Shoppers hit by ‘ridiculous’ £100 parking fines at Bristol retail park

A woman is warning shoppers after she and dozens of other motorists have been issued with fines over parking at Imperial Retail Park in Hartcliffe. Stevie Worgan visits the retail park featuring B&Q, The Range and B&M almost every day.

But this month she was issued with a £100 parking fine for re-entering the car park 10 minutes after leaving on a day back in March. The car park rules state that the maximum stay time is four hours, with no return within two hours.

However, it appears the ‘no return’ rule was not enforced by enforcement company Parkingeye until now. Bristol World understands that the national firm has sent out more than 40 fines to motorists for the parking breach over the past week.

Mrs Worgan, aged 28, from Bishopsworth, described enforcement of the rule as ‘absolutely ridiculous’. She said she would often park at the retail centre for an item - then return less than two hours later because she had forgotten something.

Issued with her fine, she called up Imperial Retail Park’s security team which helpfully cancelled it. BristolWorld spoke to an employee in the team who said between 20 and 30 were cancelled yesterday (April 15), and by midday today, 10 had been cancelled.

The worker who did not want to be named accepted that the ‘no return’ restriction was a ‘stupid rule’ and that work was being done to resolve the situation. For now, said people should email [email protected] if they had received a fine.

But Mrs Worgan said she was concerned some people without access to social media may have received a fine, and had decided to pay. The fine issued by Parking Eye is reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.

She said: “We’ve been doing up our kitchen and going backwards and forwards to B&Q - so this could have been a time when we had left and then realised we had the wrong item and so went back.

“With so many different shops and the places to eat and drink we can’t be the only ones to have been caught and I worry that some elderly people could get the fine and decide to pay without seeing if they can get it cancelled.

“The no return rule should not be there in the first place. The car park is never full and there’s so many different shops it can make sense to go back to within two hours. This will mean fewer people going there if they keep it.”

Mrs Worgan added that the security team on site had been very helpful to resolve her situation.

A Parkingeye spokesperson has issued a statement. It said: “The car park at Imperial Retail Park features prominent and highly-visible signs providing information on how to use the car park responsibly.

“The guidance has been in place since 2019 and advises customers of the retail park that they are entitled to a four-hour maximum stay with no return within two hours.

“The rules are in place to prevent long-stay parking abuse and ensure that spaces are available for customers visiting the retail park.

“We would add that Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their Parking Charge. If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing.”