Parking problems at Eastbourne Railway Station

Over the past year we have received numerous enquiries from people who have received penalties when they have parked at Eastbourne Railway station. These come into two categories: blue badge holders having problems registering with the new system which was introduced by Indigo Parking in 2018 (and taken over by SABA in 2019) and the other group is people who have dropped someone off or picked someone up but then receive a penalty because they have supposedly parked there for a considerable length of time (sometimes a number of days. As well as a number of clients who have come to us for advice, we were aware of how often this came up in the letters page of Eastbourne Herald.

We sent our own letter to the Herald and asked people who'd been affected to contact us. We had quite a response from people who had been adversely affected, mostly older people and people with disabilities. We also received a letter from SABA, the company who run the parking system and have recently met with them to discuss the problems people have had and our recommendations.

The meeting was very positive, including an opportunity to have some cases reviewed. We also discussed the new online registration system for blue badge holders and we are told that this will receive a full launch soon. You can find our about the new system on the websites of SABA https://www.sabaparking.co.uk/blue-badge-portal or Govia Thameslink https://bluebadge.gtrcarparks.com/. The new scheme will allow blue badge holders to register their badge with their car and will last for one year.

We look forward to major improvements in the experience of those who use the car park and will continue to work with SABA to achieve this. If anyone has a problem using the car park or receives a penalty notice they think is unreasonable, please contact Citizens Advice Eastbourne for advice.