A couple were left fuming after being fined £100 for parking at a shopping centre, despite the ticket machine being broken.
Stephane Pendered says he and his wife visited the Peel Shopping Centre in Stockport on November 9 where they encountered a ‘confusing’ new parking rule.
Instead of paying on arrival, the new ‘pay on exit’ system required drivers to enter their vehicle registration to pay a fee before leaving.
The payment system works by cameras picking up the registration of the vehicle as it enters the car park, then calculating the fee after the number plate is typed into a machine on exit.
Stephane says that after shopping for around half-an-hour the couple were unable to pay on exit as the machine stated that the camera did not recognise their number plate.
The managers of the car park, Ocean Parking, acknowledged that the ticket machine was ‘faulty’. However, they said the issue did not mean the couple were exempt from paying. They said they could have paid via the parking app RingGo.
Stephane says that the machine did not provide another option to pay and it was not ‘obvious’ that they could have paid through RingGo.
Stephane says that after attempting to get in touch with the company from the emergency number provided, he and his wife left the car park without paying as he didn’t think there was any other option.
“You could key in your correct reg until you were blue in the face, it gave you the same answer every time,” said the 54-year-old from Stockport.
“When I went to have another go before we left there was a huge queue of people and I would say maybe half of the people there were having the same problem and it wasn’t just us.
Stephane says the machine did not register the car’s number plate
(Image: Stephane Pendered)
“In the end we just left because our understanding was, this is the new system, it’s pay on exit and not pay on entry.
“(Pay on entry) was the old method which we paid for via RingGo. It wasn’t obvious.
“Because everyone else was having the same problem, it was a new system and we just decided to go. I don’t know how they can say we owe anything anyway because the camera didn’t recognise us when we arrived.
“Our Christmas has been good but it’s been a little bit spoiled by the fact that we’ve had to pay these people £100.”
Stephane told the M.E.N. that he visited the shopping centre a week later and saw updated instructions on what to do if the camera does not read your registration. However, he says that by then, his wife, who was the registered driver of the vehicle, had already been served a £100 PCN for what should have been a £1 parking fee.
The couple attempted to appeal the fine through an independent adjudicator to no avail.
They have since paid the fine. However, Stephane describes the ordeal as ‘unfair’ and says the new system has caused havoc for many shoppers in the area who encountered the same issues with the new system.
“This is completely unfair. We went to shop at M&S and it was £1. £1 that you can claim back anyway so it was essentially free”, the lawyer said.
Stephane says his family isn’t the only one that’s been fined
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“So many people are p***ed off after shopping at the Peel Centre. When my partner went back there and took a photo of the new screen with new instructions, it showed me that their new system wasn’t working.
“At best, it’s confusing. This idea that you could pay by RingGo but we all know that RingGo is pay on entry and they only give you a couple of hours, so does it work on exit?”
A spokesperson for Ocean Parking, who manage the car park, said: “The fact that the machine was faulty and did not recognise the appellant’s registration does not entitle the driver to park on this site without paying.
“The signage clearly displayed on site requires the driver to pay on exit and if the driver does park without paying then the driver is deemed to agree to pay the charges as displayed in the signage. In this case, the appellant has the option of using RingGo to pay.”