Beijing Morning Post report (by reporter Xin Wu) - A large truck carrying a power generation unit was stopped by the road patrol staff of the First Highway Group due to exceeding the width limit. Thirteen days later when the owner came to retrieve the vehicle, they were asked to pay more than 50,000 yuan in parking fees. Yesterday, it was learned that there has been new progress regarding the "exorbitant parking fee" incident reported by our newspaper last year. The logistics company from Jiangsu province, which owns the large truck, has filed a lawsuit against Beijing Capital Highway Development Group Co., Ltd. and An Chang Expressway Management Branch Company, and the Fengtai Court has officially accepted the case.
The logistics company from Jiangsu complained that their drivers Wen Mou and Liu Mou were transporting wind turbine equipment from Nanjing to Baotou. At 11 p.m. on November 11, 2011, when the large truck was traveling on the section between the Sixth Ring Road and the Jingzang Expressway, it was intercepted by the road patrol staff of the First Highway Group for not having an oversize transportation permit, resulting in the truck being impounded. Mr. Zhang, a relevant person in charge of this logistics company, recalled that after they had arranged for the oversize transportation permit, they went to pick up the vehicle on the 22nd but were informed that they needed to pay over 30,000 yuan in parking fees. During the two days of negotiation with the other party, the parking fee increased to over 50,000 yuan.
"They (the defendant side) required us to pay the parking fee at a daily rate of 4,500 yuan, and we did not agree," Mr. Zhang said. Because the vehicle could not be retrieved without payment, by December 3, 2011, the other party demanded parking fees amounting to over 68,000 yuan. To avoid greater losses, the company was forced to reach a "Agreement" with the defendant on December 9, paying an initial parking fee of 5,000 yuan.
The logistics company, as the plaintiff, believes that the First Highway Group and An Chang Branch Company are not highway enforcement agencies. Without the plaintiff's consent, they forcibly provided services and charged exorbitant parking fees without pricing basis, which is unreasonable. The defendant should bear the losses caused to the company. This logistics company requests the court to revoke the "Agreement" signed by both parties, return the already paid parking fee of 5,000 yuan, and compensate for the total loss of 45,511.6 yuan due to the breach of contract caused by the vehicle detention.
Yesterday afternoon, the reporter contacted Mr. Liu, a relevant person in charge of the First Highway Group. Regarding whether charging parking fees in this case is reasonable, Mr. Liu stated that the First Highway Group has made a response to this matter and still adheres to its previous position. After the incident occurred, the First Highway Group expressed to the media that the impounded vehicle was large and parked for a long time, so the First Highway Group dispatched more vehicles for round-the-clock supervision, resulting in high parking fees. The First Highway Group claims that they did not engage in arbitrary pricing.