Pensioner, 87, left with £160 parking fine over 'misunderstanding' during 11-minute visit to Banbury charity shop
A pensioner has been handed a £160 parking fine over what he sees as a misunderstanding during an 11-minute visit to a charity shop in Banbury.
Allen Clegg, 87, visited the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) home store on Broad Street in October in the hopes of picking up a bed frame.
As he has done in the past when purchasing items from the store, Allen parked his car in the small parking area to the rear of the shop on Christchurch Close.
Mr Clegg said: “I thought I would park by the back door because years ago I bought some shelves, and staff at the shop advised me to park around the back and ring the bell on the back door rather than carrying them around town.
“At the back of the shop, there is a customer collection sign and another sign informing drivers they cannot park for longer than 20 minutes, so I thought I knew the system and it would be ok to visit the store quickly.”
Mr Clegg didn’t want to park directly outside the BHF’s back door in case he would block people carrying furniture to their cars, so he parked at one end of the car park, which, unbeknown to him, belongs to a different company.
He says it took him 11 minutes to park his car, walk to the front of the store, enquire about bed frames (of which there weren’t any in stock) and then return to his car.
A couple of weeks later, Mr Clegg received a notice from UKPS, the company that manages the parking area behind BHF.
The letter informed Mr Clegg that he had been parked illegally and was now required to pay a £60 fine within several days before it would rise to £160.
In the hopes of appealing the fine, Mr Clegg travelled to Leamington, where UKPS are located, but says he was unable to find their office, as the company’s address leads to a residential area.
He spoke with staff at BHF in Banbury, who, according to Mr Clegg, told him ‘that this happens all the time’ and ‘to leave it with them and they would speak to head office and sort it’.
However, on Wednesday, December 10, he received another letter, this time from debt collectors Debt Recovery Plus, informing him he was now due to pay the full amount of £160.
He then received an email from BHF’s area manager, who told him that they were unable to waive the parking fine as UKPS are contracted to manage the car park.
Mr Clegg says he is disappointed because he thought that speaking to BHF would have solved the problem - but instead, as more time passed, the fine only grew larger.
After being left on hold for over half an hour when trying to appeal the fine with Debt Recovery Plus, he finally relented and paid the fine.
He said: “I paid the fine just so I could sleep peacefully because I was thinking about it all the time, and it was causing me stress.
“The whole experience has put me off visiting Banbury again, and I want to make other people aware of what is going on in this area of town.”
A spokesperson for BHF head office said: “The parking behind our Banbury BHF Home store is managed on behalf of the landlord by Johnson & Fellows. They in turn contract UKPS to monitor the parking.”
Johnson & Fellows and UKPS have been contacted for comments.