A couple were left feeling 'robbed' on holiday in Dorset after being fined £100 for spending six minutes and 12 seconds in a car park. Steve Cottrell, 63, an NHS nurse from Ruthin, North Wales, and his partner Joy, 56, drove into the Old Town (West) Car Park in Weymouth on July 15 hoping to find somewhere to leave their car for a week to leave behind for a long time. travel.
But when Steve walked to the ticket machine, he said the cash payment system was broken and the prices were too high, so he decided to drive back and find another spot. When the couple returned home from their holiday, they were fined £100 by Parkingeye, the company that manages the car park, who claim the charge was imposed because Steve had exceeded the "five minute grace period" by one minute and 12 seconds.
The father-of-two, who said he felt like he had been 'ambushed', wrote to a number of MPs and copied it into the Prime Minister after his one-off appeal was rejected, and even wrote to the landowners of the car park. . Parkingeye said there was no evidence the contactless payment terminal was broken and that Steve had failed to "provide mitigating circumstances" for breaching the five-minute rule.
Three months later, the company finally agreed to "cancel the charges as a gesture of goodwill" after PA Real Life reached out. "If there's a five-minute grace period, I've gone a minute over it, so I have to pay £100 per 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 if I cut off my nose, despite my face, but I just don't want to pay the money. I feel like I've been robbed.
"I think five minutes is unreasonable because by the time you arrive, get out of the car, go to the ticket machine and read the signs, your time is up and you get a fine."
Steve and his partner Joy drove to the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth for a week's holiday on July 15, 2024. It was raining heavily when they arrived and started looking for a parking spot for their Lexus IS 200 around 3 p.m.
"We were just really grateful that we found a place," he said. Steve, who was driving, found the Weymouth Old Town (West) Car Park, run by a company called Parkingeye Limited.
What Steve doesn't know is that the car park has a one and a half star rating in Google reviews, with people commenting "avoid this car park at all costs..." and "another victim of an unnecessary fine". After entering the open-air parking lot, Steve said he unloaded the car and went to the ticket machine.
"I grabbed a few bags from the trunk and walked to the vending machine, but noticed that it was not contactless. It was broken and I had no 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."
Dissatisfied with the prices, the couple decided to try their luck elsewhere and soon found a free spot on a nearby street. We just put the bags back in the car and drove away," he said.
In total, the couple spent six minutes and 12 seconds in the parking lot. When they returned from holiday, Steve was shocked to see a letter from Parkingeye waiting for him.
It said they had been fined £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days, for the parking. According to Parkingeye, motorists are given a reflection period of 'five minutes' before they have to pay a parking fee. "I was quite shocked because we hadn't parked there," Steve said.
"We had just driven in, walked to the machine and found out that we actually couldn't pay because we didn't have cash and it was expensive. The process apparently took six minutes and twelve seconds, and we were fined for that."
Assuming it was a mistake, Steve disputed the fine with Popla (Parking on Private Land Appeals), a free, independent service that allows motorists to appeal charges. But to his surprise, Steve received a "long and wordy" response denying his appeal.
"I didn't know how to contact Parkingeye and Popla is a one-step appeal process," he said. "It's a bit embarrassing but I sent an email to several MPs and copied Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner. I know it's a bit weird, but I didn't think anyone could really help me with this.
Steve feared the fine would increase before it was turned over to a collection agency and ultimately ended up in court. But he stuck to his guns and refused to pay. "I am very reluctant to pay £100 to people who behave like this," he said.
A spokesperson for Parkingeye said: "The car park in Old Town West in Weymouth is monitored by ANPR camera systems and has 17 prominent and highly visible signs giving motorists clear guidance on how to use the car park responsibly. Motorists are advised that the rates apply 24/7 and that they have the option to pay on site via the machine or via the evology payment app.
"The motorist parked in the parking lot for six minutes without paying, this exceeded the five-minute cooling-off period and therefore led to the issuing of parking fees. We would like to add that our systems show that the machines and app were processing normal levels of transactions throughout the day.
"Parkingeye runs a BPA (British Parking Association) monitored appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charges. The motorist did not put forward any mitigating circumstances for not complying with the parking conditions and the appeal was rejected.
"The charge was also confirmed by Popla, the independent appeals service. Nevertheless, we will cancel the charge as a gesture of goodwill. We strongly urge all motorists to pay the correct rate if they exceed the five-minute cooling-off period, which was introduced as part of the joint code of practice between the British Parking Association and the International Parking Community."