A FUMING couple were slapped with a £70 parking fine for visiting Asda twice in one day – and have issued a stark warning to other shoppers.
Their car was recorded as overstaying nearly six hours, instead of the two quick pit stops they made.
The couple visited an Asda in the Wirral, Merseyside, for their usual grocery shop.
Later, the same day, they returned to the same car park to fill up their car at the supermarket’s petrol station.
Despite just two quick pit stops, the CCTV had clocked the car as being there for nearly six hours – the time between both visits – and charged them a £70 fine for overstaying.
And it appeared the cameras had missed the car leaving the car park on both occasions.
The couple took to Facebook to alert drivers to be wary of the cameras misreading their stays and slapping them with hefty fines.
The woman said: “Just wanted to make people aware, we recently received a £70 parking fine through from ‘ParkingEye’ who are responsible for the parking in Asda, Woodchurch.
“The letter accused us of staying in the car park for 5 hours and 44 minutes (which we didn’t).
“We had visited the store in the morning and then again for petrol in the evening.
“The cameras had recorded two out of four events and mistakenly had us down as being in the car park the entire time.
“I went into Asda and was told if I could bring the letter and receipts/bank statement into store, they could quash it.
“I didn’t have it with me and so appealed the fine online providing a copy of our bank transactions, and have just received notification to say it’s been cancelled.
“Wanted to make people aware incase the same happens to them.”
An Asda spokesperson said: ”We employ CCTV in our car parks to prevent anti-social behaviour and to ensure customers can park at our store safely.
“We are pleased that this error was solved quickly and apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”
A ParkingEye spokesperson confirmed the charge notice was cancelled on appeal when the couple provided evidence.
They said: “ParkingEye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their Parking Charge Notice.
“If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing to ParkingEye.”
