'I'm furious over retail park parking fine despite spending nearly £100 on Christmas shopping in stores'

Steve, his partner Marie Tindale and his daughter Ava were visiting the retail park on December 12 to buy Christmas food and festive pyjamas as well as looking for potential presents.

Whilst there they visited a number of shops including B&M, Lidl and Food Warehouse, spending £97 during their visit.

Steve was left “furious” when on December 18 he received a letter from Ocean Parking - who have jurisdiction over parking at the retail park - informing him he was going to be fined £100 for being in excess of the two hour maximum parking time period.

The letter stated he had parked his vehicle at 4.22pm and left the carpark at 6.33pm, exceeding the stipulated time by 11 minutes and 17 seconds.

Steve, 51, who lives in Springwell, said: “I accept that we were just over the two hour period, but we had been visiting multiple shops and spending money. Shops are begging us to come and spend our money and being fined really doesn’t sit very well with me.

“I understand that if you go in one shop and spend a fiver then you can’t really justify being there for more than two hours, but the shops were busy, we were looking for Christmas shopping and we spent nearly £100.

“Retailers want people to go to their shops, but if people keep getting fined their shops won’t exist.”

After receiving the parking fine Steve decided to initially contact the retailers at the park but was informed they did not have jurisdiction over the carpark.

However, he was informed by B&M that the “company who manage the carpark (Ocean Parking) are open to reviewing parking tickets when a customer is able to provide details of purchases such as a receipt or bank statement in our stores at the time the ticket was received”.”

Subsequently Steve contacted Ocean Parking, completed their appeals process and submitted copies of bank statements showing the purchases made at the shops on the day on question.

He also explained that the family’s departure had been delayed as his 14-year-old autistic daughter had needed to go to the toilet.

However, on December 27 Steve received a second letter informing him his appeal had been unsuccessful, but as he had appealed within a 14 day period he would only be subject to the reduced £60 penalty rate.

The letter, which is addressed from Ocean Parking’s Appeals Teams, stated: “When parking at Washington Retail Park, the driver of this vehicle agreed to pay a parking charge of £100 if they did not park in accordance with the terms printed on the contractual warning signage.

“The contractual warning signs in place clearly state the maximum stay period allowed at this location, and this vehicle was parked in contravention of this term of the contractual warning signs.

“There is entrance signage and additional signs located throughout Washington Retail Park which explain the terms and conditions for parking at this site.

“The contractual warning signs clearly state the parking restrictions in place and the cost of non-compliance at this location.

“This vehicle exceeded the maximum stay period allowed at Washington Retail Park. Therefore, the PCN was issued correctly.”

On the evidence provided of shopping at the retail park stores, the letter went on to state: “There is a maximum stay period allowed at this location, as stated on the contractual warning signage in place, this vehicle has exceeded this period, and the evidence provided does not mitigate the driver of this vehicle from contravening the parking restrictions in place.

“The evidence provided does not justify this vehicle exceeding the maximum stay period allowed at this location.”

After receiving the letter, Steve responded: “We were just over the two hours and sent in all our purchase statements, but it didn’t make any difference.

“I’m really annoyed as they saw evidence of us spending money in the shops and still decided to fine us.

“My partner really likes that retail park, but we aren’t going to be using it again.”

Steve accepted signs are in place warning about the two hour limit and that this had been exceeded and so reluctantly paid the fine.

However, he contacted the Echo as he wanted to ensure people are aware of the regulations and that “people will be fined even if they are legitimately shopping and buying goods at the retail park”.

He added: “If it’s busy and your are visiting every shop then you are going to be close that two hour limit.

“People need to be aware that they will be fined, even if they have receipts as proof of shopping and spending money.”

We contacted Ocean Parking to get a response to Steve’s case.

Despite the letter from the company’s appeals team stating “this decision is final, and no further correspondence will be accepted”, a senior representative contacted the Echo to inform us that Steve’s fine will be reimbursed.

The response stated: “In regard to the specific PCN, we have checked the system and found that some of the information offered during the appeal could not be utilised.

“To that end, on this occasion, it has been arranged for a refund to be processed and as such, these monies should reach the motorist within the next couple of days.”

After being informed his fine would be refunded, Steve said: “I’m happy about the refund as with the cost of everything having gone up, you don’t want to be paying an extra £60 for a shopping trip.

“I’m also surprised as the last letter I received clearly stated this decision was final. I didn’t contact the Echo to pursue a refund, I just wanted to make people aware of the situation.”