£175 ticket after Morecambe car boot queue

A couple had to stump up £175 for a parking fine for going 11 minutes over the allotted ticket time in the Winter Gardens car park in Morecambe.
Scott Thompson from Morecambe complaining about a parking fine his wife received from Parking Eye on the car park behind the Winter Gardens. Picture by Paul Heyes, Monday June 18, 2018.Scott Thompson from Morecambe complaining about a parking fine his wife received from Parking Eye on the car park behind the Winter Gardens. Picture by Paul Heyes, Monday June 18, 2018.
Scott Thompson from Morecambe complaining about a parking fine his wife received from Parking Eye on the car park behind the Winter Gardens. Picture by Paul Heyes, Monday June 18, 2018.

Helen Thompson and her two young children had gone into Morecambe and parked in the car park for one hour whilst shopping.

Helen returned to her car well before the one hour was up, but due to a car boot on that day, there were queues to get out and she was 11 minutes over the hour she paid for.

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Helen and her husband Scott received a £100 parking fine through the post but initially refused to pay it.

Having received a court summons, they wanted to avoid going to court so paid the fine plus costs.

Scott Thompson from Lancaster said: “It actually equated to 18p over the parking charge. Initially we refused to pay it but we would have had to travel down to Northampton to go to court, and if we had lost, we could have ended up with a CCJ or more cost.

“It’s been a total ordeal for us both.

“To purchase a ticket, getting children in and out of the car, then queuing to get out of the car park, the time given is totally unreasonable. I did a car boot sale there before the incident (which was on August 26, 2017 ) and I was worried about getting a ticket then. It’s just a horrible thing.”

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Scott Thompson has started a campaign on his Facebook page against Parking Eye and is appealing for anyone who has been given a ticket that was unjustified to comment and share the page.

A ParkingEye spokesman said “We have always been a member of the British Parking Association (BPA) and follow its strict code of practice in all the car parks we manage on behalf of our clients.

“We encourage people who have received a parking charge to appeal if they think there are mitigating circumstances. The appeal process is a way for us to fairly review charges on a case-by-case basis.

“All information received during an appeal is considered when deciding whether to cancel a charge.”