Voracious: Paul Gyles' private parking company has received a catalogue of complaints. Credit:Nick Moir It manages these car parks for stores such as for Woolworths and Aldi and, until recently, McDonald's in locations from Cabramatta to Nelson Bay. And it has won a reputation for voraciousness that has worn down the patience of NSW authorities, who have received almost 4000 enquiries and complaints about the firm over the past three years. A number of these complaints were from Julie Fehon, who lives in Warriewood on the northern beaches. She was rushing when she pulled into the Peninsula/Bungan Plaza car park in Mona Vale in December 2009. Mrs Fehon was suffering a severe medical condition and needed to see a specialist. The car park required a displayed ticket, so she bought one and put it on her dashboard before she entered the surgery.

Hounded with letters and threats: Julie Fehon. Credit:Dallas Kilponen When she came out she found she had a $66 ticket for parking in a disabled bay. But she did not know it was a disabled bay - there was no sign and no wheelchair symbol on the surface. (Later, she returned to the spot to photograph it as evidence.) Car park sign in Campsie. Credit:Mick Tsikas ''I would never have parked in a handicapped spot,'' Mrs Fehon said.

''The space next to it was vacant. It is not a car park where it is ever hard to find a park.'' She assumed if she wrote to the company that gave her the ticket it would waive the penalty. But her first letter to ANCP, the operator of the car park that had given her the ticket, was met with a form response, insisting that if she did not pay within 14 days it had ''the right to commence legal action''. A second letter brought a similar form response. A third triggered a reply from a solicitor, Michael Roper, requesting a total payment of $173 on behalf of his client, ANCP.

More correspondence followed. Mrs Fehon would write specific appeals; she would receive form letters in response. These form letters included two on official-looking letterhead from a debt company known as Australian Recoveries and Collections. (The letters did not say that ARC's major shareholders were Mr Gyles and Mr Nudler.) By this stage Mrs Fehon's husband was encouraging her to pay the fine and forgo the stress. But the intransigence of the company had got under her skin. Fiona Allan, another woman who believed she was wrongly ticketed and ended up in a frustrating back-and-forth with ANCP put it this way: ''I have a strong sense of justice and I didn't feel that what had happened was just or fair.'' Eventually, offered a $66 settlement by ARC, Mrs Fehon paid up. According to Fair Trading, the department received 1011 complaints and 2328 enquiries about ANCP last year; and has received 410 complaints and 292 enquiries about the company so far this year.

The complaints peaked after ANCP won a court case in May last year allowing it access to the names and addresses of car owners it alleged had breached its terms. In November, the O'Farrell government passed laws preventing Roads and Maritime Services from handing out personal information to private parking operators. Next week, ANCP's case on charges of harassment begins in the Parramatta Local Court. ANCP did not respond for this article. Neither did Aldi, while a spokeswoman for McDonald's said the company no longer contracts out to ANCP. A spokeswoman for Woolworths said: ''Woolworths uses ANCP at just a handful of sites and only as a last resort."