PHRAA, Park Home Residents Action Alliance

As you will know from our Autumn News, PHRAA has assisted in several very successful BBC Inside Out programmes broadcast regionally during 2005/6, which graphically exposed the horrifying sharp practices, bullying and harassment of elderly and mainly defenseless park homeowners employed by certain park owners in order to clear them, and their homes off their parks to make way for brand new homes. Unfortunately these excellent programmes only showed the tip of the iceberg regarding the widespread and rapidly growing incidences of this type of practice as more and more parks are purchased by these unscrupulous park owners.

As a direct result of our contacts within the BBC, PHRAA invited the Inside Out team to do a similar exposure on our own multiple park owner Mr. C S Nedic, and on supplying them with all the relevant information, the programme was duly made. This mainly featured on Mr. Nedic’s illegal practice of actively preventing residents selling their homes. Indeed, such is the arrogance of this man, that he openly stated to the presenter, on camera, that he will allow none of the existing residents on his parks to sell their homes, except to him, which means that they are forced to accept a pittance for their home regardless of its true market value. A few hundred pounds for a home worth many tens of thousands is the norm. Although the excellent programme, broadcast on the 23rd March 2007, exposed the despicable activities of our park owner to the whole of the West Midlands area, it has not curbed his activities at all. He blatantly continues, in common with all the other unscrupulous park owners, to block residents sales.
Following a previous Inside Out exposure of a well known multiple park owner PHRAA wrote to the head of the trade organisation of which he is a member requesting that appropriate disciplinary action be taken against him. The reply denied all knowledge of both the programme or any wrongdoing by their member and requesting that PHRAA supplied them with the relevant information. PHRAA replied that this information was readily available on the BBC Website, to which no reply has been forthcoming. As this trade organisation claims that its members operate their parks in an upright manner following their organisations guidelines, what does this tell us?
On behalf of PHRAA I send our sincere thanks to Nick Laurence and the BBC Inside Out Team for their excellent work without which the exploitation of elderly and vulnerable park homeowners would remain a carefully hidden secret. PHRAA is proud to be of continued assistance to the BBC in the making of these and any future programmes. Ron

Well now we know. Months and months of consultations, negotiations have resulted in the government presenting yet another victory to unscrupulous park owners to further fuel their greed and power over residents.