Driver wins appeal after overstaying fine at car park
SCORES of Coventry City and Wasps fans who have received penalty charges for parking at the Arena Shopping Park could be in line for a refund.
One visitor, who was hit with a £100 parking notice for overstaying, has had the fine overturned after successfully appealing to the parking regulator POPLA.
Joe Rukin, from Kenilworth, fought the penalty charge after being caught by the car park’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system staying in the car park for 17 minutes more than two hours permitted on a Wasps or CCFC match day.
Drivers can park in the car park for more than two hours on match days if they can produce receipts showing they have spent at least £50 with retailers on the site.
But Mr Rukin did not have his receipt and instead successfully argued that the signs in the car park did not make clear ANPR would be used to monitor the length of people’s stay.
The decision means that anyone who has been fined for overstaying in the car park could potentially secure a refund by appealing.
Despite the decision, Park Watch, which operates the car park, insists it will not change the signage or automatically refund anyone fined using ANPR technology.
The signs were installed in September 2016, meaning scores of people could potentially have been affected.
Mr Rukin, who works as the Stop HS2 campaign manager, said he got the parking charge notice while shopping on a Wasps matchday.
The 43-year-old said: “I appealed because I thought it was completely unreasonable to operate this way.
“Park Watch are working on a premise of guilty until proven innocent, issuing anyone who stays in the car park for over two hours with a ticket and saying it is then up to them, at their own time and expense to prove they are innocent.
“When the signs say ask people to keep their receipts, I expected there would be a bloke checking them at the exit like there used to be, not that they expect people to hang onto them for a fortnight.” He added: “Because the arbitrator specifically ruled that my fine shouldn’t stand because the signs don’t say they will use camera evidence to enforce parking fines, then they shouldn’t be issuing tickets this way. “In my opinion, everyone who has had to pay a fine because of ANPR evidence should now get their money back, and they shouldn’t issue any more tickets until they do comply with the rules they claim to follow.” Failure to comply with the following terms & conditions may result in a parking charge: five hours maximum stay, staying over your permitted time may result in a parking charge. All days bar match days; two hours maximum stay for match days and event days. Unless £50 of purchases made from Arena shopping park retailers; please retain receipts as proof of purchase. £100 Parking Charge.
The POPLA assessor said: “The BPA Code of Practice states ‘You may use ANPR camera technology to manage, control and enforce parking in private car parks, as long as you do this in a reasonable, consistent and transparent manner. Your signs at the car park must tell drivers that you are using this technology and what you will use the data captured by ANPR cameras for.’
“While I note the operator has provided photographic images of the signage at the site and I can see that this advises ANPR is in operation, I cannot see that the signage at the site clearly advises what the data captured will be used for.
“Ultimately, the burden of proof lies with the operator to demonstrate that the appellant has not complied with the terms and conditions of the car park.
“In this case, the operator has failed to demonstrate that the data captured by the ANPR cameras would result in the issue of a PCN.
“As such, I cannot confirm the PCN has been issued correctly.”
In my opinion, anyone who has had to pay a fine because of ANPR evidence should now get their money back. Joe Rukin