Private Valet Parking Companies Refuse to Lower Fees 'Trick'
Repeated Queue Jumping Hundreds of Times at Unmanned Parking Lots
A private valet parking company was caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage committing a fraud by using a so-called 'tailgating' method to avoid paying any parking fees. Although 12 vehicles exited a paid parking lot, the total parking fee was '0 won.'
On the 19th, KBS reported that fraud involving parking multiple vehicles in someone else's paid parking lot and leaving without paying the parking fees is rampant. The perpetrators were a private valet parking company that parks cars on behalf of customers at the airport.
According to the report, in November last year, footage captured a dozen vehicles exiting in a row from a parking lot of a building in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. As a van exited the parking lot, other cars closely followed behind. The cars formed a tailgate line, and when the barrier gate was about to come down, they reduced the distance to the car in front and followed closely. In total, 12 cars exited the parking lot as a set.
The parking fee charged for these 12 vehicles was '0 won.' Only the first vehicle was charged a parking fee, and even then, they used a method of leading with a 'turnaround' vehicle that had been parked for less than 30 minutes, thus paying nothing at all. By closely tailgating the car in front before the barrier gate fully closed, they exploited the principle that the exit sensor recognizes multiple vehicles as 'one vehicle.'
The private valet parking company seemed to be skilled at this 'tailgating' technique, smoothly exiting the parking lot. The bigger problem is that this crime is carried out independently of the vehicle owners. Since the vehicle owners are unaware of this fact, there is a risk of secondary damage as they do not know their cars were used in the crime.
Last November, in a parking lot of a building in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, 12 vehicles were seen leaving by "tailgating" to avoid parking fees. [Photo by KBS screen capture]
Such acts continued repeatedly on that day as well. The lead vehicle was a turnaround vehicle, and the following cars were long-term parked vehicles. In particular, this crime was repeated hundreds of times at a building near Gimpo Airport. The management only became aware of it after two months.
This was not the only affected parking lot. The tailgating exit method was even detected in a parking lot inside Gimpo Airport. Although the police caught one valet parking company last year and sent them to prosecution on fraud charges, the same incidents kept recurring.
As unmanned parking lots without personnel increase, such fraud is becoming rampant. The company that developed the parking system is reportedly considering ways to improve the equipment so that vehicle sensors cannot be exploited by tailgating.
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