Citizens Advice Ashfield are seeing a number of clients with car parking fine issues due to people not understanding the rules around using private car parks
Many shoppers in Sutton using the Forest Retail Park and other car parks are being fined despite using the shops as they haven’t read the terms and conditions. Ashfield Citizens Advice are making people aware of the rules around private car park fines.
Kathryn Stacey, CEO at Ashfield Citizens Advice said ‘ we have seen a number of clients recently who despite using the shop have been fined for using their car park, many from the Halfords car park in Sutton in Ashfield. We are concerned around people noticing the terms of use and people’s understanding of enforcing parking fines on private land especially as we approach the festive shopping period.’
Forest Retail Park (Halfords) signage on the ‘terms’ (at the bottom) saying drivers must remain on site throughout the period of parking meaning that even if a passenger uses the store the driver can still be fined. This is enforceable and similar to the rules used at East Midlands Airport around use of the service station.
Private car parking companies can enforce action if they are registered with an accredited trading association (like British Parking Association or International Parking Community) and you shouldn’t ignore any correspondance. There is a myth that all private car parking company fines can be ignored, this is not true. You can check if a company is registered by contacting www.britishparking.co.uk/bpa-members.
It’s worth trying to appeal and It’s free to make an informal appeal by contacting whoever gave you the parking ticket. Your parking ticket should be cancelled if;
You were parked correctly
The parking signs or road markings were unclear
There was no way to pay
You were charged too much
You weren’t driving when the ticket was issued
You couldn’t get back to your car
Your car broke down
You were only just out of time
For more help if you receive a parking fine visit https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/parking-tickets/
Or call us free on 0800 1448848
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