Driver given parking fine for 'using car wash twice in a day - without stopping'
A pensioner was left furious after being slapped with a £100 parking ticket for visiting a car wash twice in one day - without ever stopping, he said.
John Jones claimed he had driven to get his red Mazda cleaned at the IMO Car Wash at a retail park in Andover, Hampshire - but found it was shut. The 72-year-old returned in the afternoon - but as a result he was hit with a parking ticket.
A private parking company claimed he had exceeded the maximum time of stay, three hours, and been there for five hours, something Mr Jones said was rubbish. He's now appealed the matter and said he's prepared to go to court if necessary.
He returned home from holiday and found the charge from Total Parking Solutions, who claimed his car had been there for five hours. The private company issues parking charge notices if drivers park incorrectly on private land, but he noticed that his notice included two images of his car entering and exiting the car park.
However, he said the cameras seemingly didn't record him exiting the car park the first time, or re-entering the second time. He said: "The parking charge notice claimed we had parked the car in the retail park for over five hours. At no time on that day in January did we ever park in this car park."
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The retail park, which includes a number of stores including Next, Halfords, Burger King, B&M, and the IMO car wash, recently introduced an ANPR system, meaning number plates are scanned at the entrance and exit of the car park.
He continued: "On checking our movements we realised that we had visited this car wash earlier in the day, only to find it closed, probably because of the heavy frost that morning. We then returned later that day, when it re-opened, and used the wash. We paid by credit card, which timestamped the entry time to the car wash."
Mr Jones has appealed what he described as an 'erroneous charge' - but said he is prepared to go to court if necessary.
He added: "This is a serious error by Total Parking Solutions. Sky News recently claimed that most people just pay these parking charge claims, thinking they are real parking fines. They are not. They are simply invoices requesting payment for the motorist."
Total Parking Solutions has been approached for comment
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