Louth motorists receive £100 fines - despite paying for parking tickets

Disgusted motorists have spoken out after claiming they have mistakenly received parking fines at a Louth car park - despite having bought valid tickets.
The car park in Eastgate, Louth.The car park in Eastgate, Louth.
The car park in Eastgate, Louth.

Following a discussion on the Move Louth Forward page on Facebook earlier this month, dozens of people commented to say that they had received a parking charge notice (PCN) in the post despite having paid for a ticket and leaving within the allocated time.

The PCNs inform the recipient that they must pay a fine of £100, which can be reduced to a £60 fine if it is paid within 14 days.

Half a dozen people also contacted the Leader directly, with what they said was evidence showing that they had received a PCN after having bought a valid ticket, input their registration number correctly, and exited the car park before their ticket had expired.

All reported incidents are understood to have taken place between April 25 and the first week of May.

It is also understood that just a few weeks previously, the parking machines in the car park were replaced and upgraded with automatic number plate recognition technology.

Almost all of the local motorists affected, who have sent appeals or complaint letters to Euro Car Parks within the last three weeks, say they are yet to receive a reply from the company.

Indeed, when the Louth Leader news team attempted to obtain an official response from Euro Car Parks through multiple emails and phone calls over the last couple of weeks, we received no formal explanation or apology for what had happened.

One unfortunate resident who received a parking charge was Lauren Howell, who said she was ‘disgusted’ to have received the PCN despite having purchased a ticket.

Lauren entered the car park at 9.17am on April 26 and promptly paid 50p for half an hour of parking, entitling her to leave her vehicle in the car park until 9.47am.

The car park’s number plate recognition cameras spotted Lauren’s vehicle leaving the car park at 9.30am - well within her allotted time slot - but she received a PCN in the post anyway.

Lauren said: “Why has this happened, and how many more people has this happened to?

“They can’t get away with doing this. What upsets me is the vulnerable people this could have happened to.”

Lauren said she believes that Euro Car Parks have made a ‘fundamental mistake’, and has demanded an apology.

Beth Speed, who also received a £100 fine despite saying she left the car park eight minutes before her ticket expired on April 25, appealed to the company on May 7 but has still not heard back.

• Euro Car Parks have not responded to the Leader’s request for a comment.

If you have been affected, visit www.eurocarparks.com to appeal against a PCN.

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