Proof that ANPR cameras in car parks don't work

[Web Admin]

#275

Tesco Extra in Whitfield, Dover, fines customers who parked twice in one day

Published: 05:00, 05 April 2023 | Updated: 16:27, 05 April 2023

A customer given a parking fine after she and her husband visited a Tesco store hours apart has vowed to never visit the shop again.

Emily Smith, from East Langdon in Dover, says she did nothing wrong but was treated like a "criminal" by the supermarket giant.


Emily Smith says she will not be shopping at Tesco in Whitfield again after wrongly receiving a parking fine

The 47-year-old says her partner went to Tesco Extra in Whitfield to grab some groceries on the morning of March 20, and she drove back there in the same car that evening for petrol.

But Horizon, the firm which monitors the car park, sent her a fine in the post, claiming the vehicle was left there for more than 10 hours - breaching the three-hour limit.

Mrs Smith says the automatic number plate recognition cameras at the site must have failed to pick up on her husband driving away in the morning.

She fears other shoppers could face similar fines and may be frightened into paying the £35 charge - which doubles after 28 days if not settled.

The charity manager told KentOnline it is "hideous" she was left having to gather evidence to prove where she was on that day.



"We are being treated like criminals," she said, speaking before KentOnline raised the issue with Tesco.

"There is no innocent until proven guilty.

"We have now found some proof because we use a tracking app with my eldest - so I can now show I was in Walmer. But we cannot send another appeal.

"It is bonkers, and trying to prove where we were is quite hard."

Mrs Smith says she searched on Google and found "a lot of other people" have been fined in similar circumstances.

"I am deeply disappointed in Tesco..."

In one example, a senior nurse practitioner told her local newspaper how she went to a Tesco store in Warrington before and after work - but received a fine claiming she had been parked there for nine hours.

KentOnline also previously reported how a man from Dartford had received a parking charge claiming he had stayed in a car park for 23 hours. But he says he visited for less than an hour on two consecutive days.

"I am just really worried that this is going to happen to other people - and some people may just pay it because it is quite frightening," she said.

Mrs Smith says she was "deeply disappointed" at how Tesco handled the situation, before the fine was overturned following KentOnline's intervention.

She said: "My husband was told when he rang them 'our cameras do not lie'. We were basically accused of lying.

"We are ending up having to give up our time and energy to try and get this resolved when we did not do anything wrong.

"I am deeply disappointed in Tesco. I was their customer but I am not going to risk being their customer again.

"They show no care, no concern and absolutely no interest.

"All we did was give Tesco our custom twice, and I would really warn anyone not to make that mistake.

"I think it is a money-making tool for Tesco and their parking company - because if you are told you are going to be fined less if you pay it within 28 days, then people will just pay it because they do not want the hassle."

Mr and Mrs Smith had been told they faced further enforcement action if they did not cough up.

"We are going to have to pay if they threaten us with court because they have the power to put bad credit against our name," she said before the fine was cancelled.

"They have the power to do that with no chance for us to argue it."

Mrs Smith, who is also a carer for two children with special needs, added: "I will now be shopping at Lidl.

"People need to know they have the choice to shop somewhere that will not fine them if they visit more than once a day.

"Given it is a known issue, it is negligence on Tesco's part to not look into it. It is hideous."

Know your rights! What to do if you're given a parking fine

KentOnline contacted Tesco to ask for a response to Mrs Smith's concerns.

A spokesperson responded: "We are sorry to hear about this and we have ensured the charge is cancelled.”


https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/tesco-fines-customers-for-parking-at-store-twice-in-one-day-284845/

[Web Admin]

#276

Parking ticket fury after ‘incorrect’ enforcement

10th December 2019


Gemma Brown with her parking ticket for using the Tyne Valley Retail Park car park.

A WOMAN was outraged after receiving a parking ticket she claimed incorrectly stated she had parked for more than 24 hours.

Gemma Brown, of Gunnerton, was handed a parking fine of £100 after parking in the Tyne Valley Retail Park, in Hexham, for exceeding the two hour limit.

The ticket claimed Mrs Brown had been in the car park for a full day, whereas she insisted she visited the same car park twice in two days and the cameras failed to detect that.

Mrs Brown said: “I went to visit Pets at Home on the Wednesday to get medicine for my guinea pig. Then it died, so I went back to look at getting a new one on Thursday.

“They’ve said I have gone in on Wednesday and not left until Thursday. I was so cross – it’s the last thing anyone wants. It’s my first ever parking ticket in 15 years of driving.”

Mrs Brown said she had subsequently sent an appeal to UKCPS, which enforces the parking restrictions at Tyne Valley Retail Park for site owners Advance Northumberland.

She continued: “It’s totally wrong and it’s very frustrating. It’s put me off going. It seems like I’m not the only person in Hexham that has been affected.”

A spokeswoman for Advance Northumberland said it, nor the parking company had received any contact.

He said: “The cameras at the single entrance/exit to the main retail park car park take an image of every car entering and leaving.

"Ten minutes grace is applied over and above the two hours. We’ve had no contact on this and the parking enforcement team whose details are on the signage displayed haven’t had any direct contact either.”

The spokeswoman said the organisation would contact Mrs Brown directly to resolve the issue.

https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/18092335.parking-ticket-fury-incorrect-enforcement/

[Web Admin]

#277

Driver with three parking fines overturned tells others how to avoid being ‘ripped off'

AN ELDERLY driver is warning other motorists of parking fines and how they can avoid them after he had three tickets overturned.

By FELIX REEVES
04:00, Thu, May 26, 2022 | UPDATED: 08:27, Thu, May 26, 2022

Malcolm Scothern, a disabled 81-year-old army veteran, has successfully appealed against parking fines on privately-owned car parks in Nottinghamshire. The driver, who was awarded the British Empire Medal, is now warning drivers how they can successfully overturn a parking ticket.

The army veteran, from Kirkby in Ashfield, was first fined after his car was spotted by cameras at a car park in Mansfield.

Malcolm had parked at St Peter’s Retail Park for 75 minutes, paying £2 at the designated machine.

Despite this, he was sent a significant £60 fine from CP Plus, who claimed he had parked without payment.

The determined former member of the 17th/21st Lancers (now the Queen’s Royal Lancers), an Army cavalry regiment, wrote to the car park company, claiming he thought the machine had been faulty.



Fortunately, he had kept his parking ticket to prove his case.

CP Plus responded by saying: “This parking charge has been cancelled in full. No further action will be taken.

“We apologise sincerely for any inconvenience caused in this matter, and can confirm that the case has been closed.”

Speaking after the fine was quashed, Malcolm said drivers should keep a hold of their parking tickets and receipts just in case.

He told Mansfield and Ashfield Chad: “There was no explanation that anything had gone wrong, which proves my point that these companies just send out the fines and hope the recipients have disposed of their ticket and so pay up.

"I feel there is a danger that the public are being ripped off terribly.

"I don’t suppose many people keep their receipts and so, to save a lot of trouble, they automatically pay the fine immediately.”

Malcolm’s previous parking fine successes were at the Festival Hall in Kirkby around ten years ago.

The second was at the Commercial Gate car park in Mansfield in February 2022.

It came after the ticket machine refused both cash and card and Malcolm's complaint was upheld by the Parking On Private Land Appeals service.

Citizens Advice recommends to drivers that they should not pay a parking ticket they intend to appeal.

Usually, paying is seen as admitting the ticket was right, meaning they won’t be able to appeal it once they’ve paid.

If they are worried about paying, they should call whoever gave them the ticket and ask them to confirm that they shouldn’t pay if they are appealing.

Most parking tickets will either be a penalty charge notice, a parking charge notice, or a fixed penalty notice.

Depending on which fine a driver receives, the appeals process will be different.

Express.co.uk has contacted CP Plus for a comment.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1616030/parking-fine-overturned-how-to-appeal-driver-warning-nottinghamshire

[Web Admin]

#278

Fury over parking fines handed out to elderly drivers unable to use complicated apps

ANGER is mounting over fines given to elderly drivers unable to fathom complicated parking apps.

By TIM BRADLEY
13:12, Wed, May 25, 2022 | UPDATED: 13:13, Wed, May 25, 2022

The issue was underlined by Pete Paphides, an author and broadcaster who sent out a tweet about his late father who died last month. After he passed away his son found unpaid fines of £100 rising to £170 for parking violations.

Other members of the public were quick to add their stories of being “digitally excluded” by parking apps.

Mr Paphides told Radio 4 that his father had struggled to pay for parking while attending a friend’s memorial service earlier this year.

The machine on site didn’t accept cash or a card and the only option was to use an app.

Not wanting to call an automated payment line, the elder man called his son in some distress for advice.


Many older drivers are unable to use the latest parking apps, preferring to pay in cash

Mr Paphides told The Times: "My dad was unsure what an app was and his bank details were not on his phone.

"He saw that there was a camera, he knew that he would probably be liable for a fine. He was anxious, it was playing on his mind."

Not wishing to miss the service, Mr Paphides’ father parked anyway and asked his son to take care of the fee.

However Mr Paphides said that he was only able to fill in a form on a website, to which he received no response.

Sadly his father then passed away and it was while Mr Paphides sorted through his belongings that he discovered the unpaid fines.

Mr Paphides said that the parking company “didn’t believe me” when he told them his father had died.

Regarding the response and the issue of elderly drivers’ frustration, Mr Paphides said: "In a way I'm not that surprised — these people just don't have a voice.

“The tragic thing is, a lot of them don't even expect to have a voice. They think they have been forgotten and no one is listening."


Many car park operators have an automated line to call in order to pay

Consumer champion Dame Esther Rantzen has taken the issue on and asked ministers to intervene to stop elderly drivers being forced to use the apps.

She said the problem was so bad that it was stopping some elderly people from leaving the house.

She told the Mail: “Because parking your car means independence, it means that somebody can get out and about who otherwise might be imprisoned at home.”

There are currently 13 councils in the UK who have moved to completely cashless car parks.

Dame Esther, 81, admitted to having not paid for parking in the past due to the convoluted systems.

She said: “I have been slightly irreverent and thought, well, if they don't care about me, I don't care about them.

“If you're making a demand for payment without offering any alternative or someone on the end of a phone, then if the other person is 55-plus, they should not be liable to prosecution.”

Since the start of last year, cashless council car parks have collected £257million in fines.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1615799/parking-fines-elderly-drivers-apps-anger

[The Bald Eagle]

#279

Bristol Airport £100 fine ‘too ridiculous to be true’ says driver who stopped after crash

He said he had no other choice than to stop because of the crash, but was still fined

ByTanya Waterworth
00:01, 7 AUG 2023



A driver who was involved in a minor crash as he left Bristol Airport's ‘drop and go’ parking, has appealed the £100 fine he received for stopping in a ‘No Stopping’ zone at the airport. He said he had no other choice than to stop because of the crash.

Steve Usher, a private hire driver from Bradley Stoke, said the collision which saw his vehicle being rear-ended, happened on June 27 when it was particularly busy at the airport. He said: “It was really busy, there were queues to get in and out. When I got out of the exit barrier of ‘Drop and Go’, it was gridlocked.”

The collision took place as Mr Usher was trying to leave the airport. Driving the bigger of the two vehicles, Mr Usher said: “I couldn’t pull away or my vehicle would have torn off the front of the other car.”

He said that while they were trying to free the smaller car and he was exchanging insurance details, “the airport car with the camera actually stopped to see if we needed help or if anyone was hurt.” He received the £100 fine for stopping in a ‘No Stopping’ zone about a week later.

“They fined me £100 for being hit up the backside, it’s too ridiculous to be true. There’s no phone number to call anyone when you get the fine, but I appealed it straight away,” he said.

Mr Usher said he had received another fine in the ‘No Stopping’ zone about 18 months ago when he was dropping a passenger off at the hotel airport. He said: “You get a ticket for the hotel parking which you can get validated.

“But the barrier into the car park was not working, apparently due to heavy rain at that time. So I let my passenger out and took his payment which was timed on the camera as 47 seconds. I received a £100 fine two days later.”

He said after months of ‘appeals and stress’ during which time the fine had risen to £491, the matter went to court in February this year. He said the case was dismissed and he was awarded costs in the amount of £129.

Often dropping passengers off at the airport, Mr Usher said he could go to the airport up to four times a day. He said : “I do agree with the red lines and zebra crossings, they are good rules and I know not to stop on the red lines, but there has to be some leeway,” he said.

While the road management around the airport is provided by a third party provider and the airport is unable to comment on individual fines, a spokesperson for Bristol Airport said: “All of the internal roadways at the Airport have experienced a longstanding issue with vehicles stopping in unsafe areas, particularly on pedestrian crossings. This poses a high risk to the safety of our customers, colleagues and business partners and causes delay and congestion to other road users.

"We conducted research with other airports around the UK and investigated the use of an external company providing us with an enforcement service. Signs across the site further underline the message to all customers. Drivers breaking the rules may face charges which will be enforced through a combination of fixed cameras and mobile patrols.

“Facilities are available close to the terminal for vehicles picking up (Short Stay and Pick Up) and dropping off (Drop & Go) passengers, and a waiting zone offering free parking for up to 60 minutes is available. The free car park is located by the entrance to Silver Zone and is linked to the terminal by a frequent shuttle bus service" said the spokesperson.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-airport-100-fine-too-8650130?int_source=nba