Anger at 'unfair' £70 fine after visiting Whalley Co-op car park

Simon Livesey was given a £70 fine after visiting the Co-op in King Street, Whalley, and using the car park while he did his shopping.

However, he claims the fine was unjustified and believes there was an error with the ANPR cameras on site, a problem that other people have also raised.

He said: “I use the car park two or three times a week but this has put me off from returning”.

Drivers can use this car park for free for up to 30 minutes, and customers who spend £5 in store can use the site for two hours.

Simon Livesey (Image: Simon Livesey)

On September 29, Simon used the car park to pick up his order from a Chinese takeaway and said he was only parked for 15 minutes.

He then returned the next morning while on the school run. Again, Simon says he only used it for around 15 minutes.

On both occassions, Simon says he used the shop. 

Despite sticking to the rules, he received a £70 fine from the car park operator, Horizon Parking, saying he had been parked at the site for 12 hours.

Simon said: “The cameras had only spotted me coming into the car park on Thursday evening and leaving Friday morning, so claimed I had been there for 12 hours and needed to pay a fine.

“I imagine the camera didn’t pick me up or register me leaving on Thursday evening. Why it didn’t register me re-entering on Friday, I am not sure.

“Obviously, I didn’t park up and sleep in the car overnight and eat my Chinese.”

Simon said he was “shocked” when he received the notification.

He said: “When I found out I was absolutely shocked and definitely used some blue language. I just thought ‘they can’t do this’.

“I went straight onto the website and appealed against it.”

Car park notice at the Co-op in Whalley (Image: Simon Livesey)

Since speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph the fine has been cancelled, but Simon wants the system to change to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else who might not be as confident to appeal against the mistake.

He said: “The fine has been cancelled but this isn’t the end of it.

“I want to change the system. I won’t want to park in that car park again, I don’t have any confidence in it anymore.”

He has since posted about the fine to Facebook to see if any other drivers had fallen victim to the parking charge.

He said: “When I put it on Facebook and I was surprised to see how many times it has happened to other people.

“I am surprised about why no-one is making a fuss about it and flagging it up.”

Mick Singleton said: “I've had it about five times over last 18 months, nipping into Co-op in the morning, then on an evening the same day.

“The first two around a year ago, they checked the cameras as its all ANPR and agreed that I left but the last three they refused to check the cameras and I had to pay, despite only nipping in.”

Pamela said: “They said I has been parked for 24 hours when I made two short visits over two days.

“I phoned them and they were very reasonable and cancelled it, it happens sometimes apparently.”

Laura Wilkinson said: “My husband parked there in the morning then went back again at night.

“We had to prove the car wasn't there all day.”

Another said: “I had the same.

“I appealed to the parking company and asked them to check their cameras which they did. My fine was cancelled.”

“The same happened to me recently and I put in an appeal to Horizon,” said Neil.

“I had no evidence but I live one mile from the car park and their 'leaving' photo was 24 hours later.

“They said it was illogical that I would leave the car in the car park overnight, so they must have missed one exit and one entrance.”

Maria said: “My husband had the same issue, you just need to put an appeal in.

“It’s not on though as it’s clearly happening to a lot of people.”

A spokesperson for Co-op, said: “Co-op is a community retailer, and while it is sometimes necessary to manage car parks to ensure space remains available for our customers, we believe that they should be operated fairly and also benefit the wider community.

"If a concern about a parking charge notice is highlighted to our car park operator they are able to investigate and apply remedy.

"We are aware of an appeal which had been raised at this location, our car park operator has apologised and the parking charge notice has been cancelled.”

Horizon Parking has been approached for comment.