A grandad was left gobsmacked after being slapped with a £100 fine for breaking a ‘no return within two hours’ rule by just four seconds
Fuming Nigel Eaton, 57, visited the Sankt Augustin Way retail park in Grantham, Lincs., nipped into Next to grab a shirt, clocked a 16-minute stay before he hightailed it out of there on June 3.
Later that day Nigel, who has two grown-up children and four grandchildren, went back to the shop to return the shirt.
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A week later he was stunned to receive a £100 fine from Parking Eye which controls the car park, an eye-watering £25 per second.
(Image: Google Street View / SWNS)
CCTV shows Nigel exiting the car park at 3.12pm and 45 seconds in his BMW Z4. The cameras caught him again as he rocked up to the retail park at 5.12pm and 41 seconds, one hour, 59 minutes and 56 seconds later.
Despite spending just 33 minutes parked up over both visits, Nigel was hit with the £100 charge for being four seconds early.
Nigel, who owns a software firm, refused to cough up for the “ridiculous” fine.
He blasted: “I was left absolutely staggered to receive this. I’ve been fined £25 for every second I was in the retail park on my second visit.”
“I had to go back to the same shop to return an item, I didn’t know there was a restriction. It’s overzealous in my opinion.
“It’s a retail park, lots of people will probably return within this limit.”Only the other day, my daughter-in-law dropped her debit card and she had to go back to get it back. She will probably get a fine now.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was only there for 33 minutes in total. While I suspect it is most likely an automated system, I think they need to make it clearer with a sign or at least give people a few minutes grace period. “
Parking Eye has now binned the fine after he appealed. A spokesperson said: “The car park at Sankt Augustin Way features prominent and highly-visible signs throughout providing information on how to use the car park responsibly.
“This includes guidance on how all motorists have a maximum two hour stay, as well as no return within two hours. The system is in place to prevent long-stay parking abuse and ensure that spaces are available for customers of the retail park.
“Parking Eye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charge. If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing and providing any supporting evidence.
“We can confirm that the motorist’s charge was cancelled on appeal.”
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