Man left furious after being charged '£100 for a minute stay' in car park

A couple say they feel 'mugged' after receiving an £100 fine for breaking the strict 'five-minute' car park rule. Steve Cottrell, 63 and his partner Joy, 56, were on holiday in Dorset in July this year when they drove into the Old Town (West) Car Park in Weymouth on July 15 in the hope to find an affordable space to leave their car for the week.

But when Steve, an NHS nurse from North Wales, walked over to the ticket machine, he claimed that the contactless payment machine wasn't working and that the prices were too expensive. So instead, after spending six minutes and 12 seconds in the car park, he decided to drive back out and look for another spot elsewhere.

It was only when the couple returned from their week away when they realised they had received a £100 fine from Parkingeye Limited, the company managing the car park, who said the charge was issued because Steve had overstayed the 'five-minute grace period' by one minute and 12 seconds.

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The father-of-two wrote to a number of MPs and copied in the Prime Minister after his one-time appeal was rejected, and even wrote a letter to the car park’s landowners.

Parkingeye have said there was no evidence the payment system was broken and that Steve had failed to “provide any mitigating circumstances” for breaking the five-minute rule.

Three months later, the company has finally agreed to “cancel the charge as a gesture of goodwill” after being contacted by PA Real Life.

“If there is a five-minute grace period, then I went over by a minute, so I’m being charged £100 for a minute,” Steve told PA Real Life. “We didn’t even stop there – well, we stopped the car but we didn’t park there.

“I don’t know whether I am cutting my nose off to spite my face, but I just don’t want to pay the money. It feels like I’ve been mugged. I think five minutes is unreasonable because by the time you’ve pulled up, got out of the car, made your way over to the ticket machine and read the signs, your time is up and you’ll be fined.”

Steve said it was raining heavily when they arrived in the car park and began looking for a space to park their Lexus IS 200 at around 3pm. “We were just really grateful to have found a place,” he said.

Unbeknownst to Steve, the lot has a one-and-a-half star rating on Google reviews, with people commenting “avoid this car park at all costs...” and “another victim of an unnecessary fine”.

After entering the open air car park, Steve said he unloaded the car and made his way over to the ticket machine. “I got some bags out of the back and walked to the machine but found that it didn’t take contactless. It was broken and I didn’t have any change,” he explained.

“Then I looked at the prices and it seemed quite expensive. It didn’t really seem suitable for a week’s stay.” The couple decided to try their luck elsewhere and soon found a free space in a nearby street. “We just stuffed the bags back in the car and drove off,” he said.

When they returned from their holiday, Steve was shocked to find a letter from Parkingeye waiting for him. It stated that they had been fined £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.

Motorists are given a “five-minute consideration period” before they are charged for parking, according to Parkingeye. “I was quite shocked because we hadn’t actually parked there,” said Steve. “We had just driven in, walked to the machine and found that we couldn’t actually pay because we didn’t have any cash and it was costly.

“The process had taken six minutes and 12 seconds apparently, which is what we were being fined for.” Assuming it was a mistake, Steve contested the fine with Popla (Parking on Private Land Appeals), a free, independent service for motorists to appeal against charge notices.

But to his surprise Steve received a “long and wordy” response denying his appeal. “I couldn’t figure out how to contact Parkingeye and Popla is a one-step appeal process,” he said. “It’s a little embarrassing but I sent an email to various MPs and copied in Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.

“I know it’s a bit silly, but I just thought nobody can actually help me with this.” Steve feared the fine would increase before getting passed on to a debt collector and eventually ending up in court. But he stood his ground and refused to pay up. “I’m very reluctant to pay £100 to people who are behaving this way,” he said.

A Parkingeye spokesperson said: “The car park at Old Town West in Weymouth is monitored by ANPR camera systems and has 17 prominent and highly visible signs that give motorists clear guidance on how to use the car park responsibly.

“Motorists are advised that tariffs apply 24/7 and that they have the option to pay by the machine on site or by the evology payment app. The motorist parked in the car park for six minutes without paying, this exceeded the five-minute consideration period and therefore led to a parking charge being issued.

“We would add that our systems show that the machines and the app took normal levels of transactions throughout the day. Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charge," they said.

“The motorist did not provide any mitigating circumstances for failing to adhere to the terms and conditions of the car park and their appeal was rejected.

“The charge was also upheld by Popla, the independent appeals service. Despite this, we will cancel the charge as a gesture of goodwill.

“We would strongly urge all motorists to pay the appropriate tariff if they exceed the five-minute consideration period, which was introduced as part of the British Parking Association and International Parking Community joint code of practice.”