MOTORISTS are being stung with hefty parking fines at a town centre car park - because they are not buying tickets quick enough.

A number of drivers have received parking fines after they failed to purchase a ticket within 10 minutes of arriving at the Strand Street car park in Whitehaven, which is run by I-Park.

The private car park company rents the land from BEC, which acquired the site in 2017 for development.

Paula Christian was hit with a £100 fine after she went to park there but ended up leaving because she couldn’t buy a ticket online.

She said: “I was going to meet a friend for lunch. I pulled on to the car park and I only had £1 in change. I thought it would all be pay online.

“I got out to have a look. I couldn’t see an app so tried to get on to their website. It just kept coming up with an unofficial site. I tried and tried. I couldn’t get it to work.

“I was flapping because I was meant to be meeting my friend. I didn’t realise it had been 14 minutes. I jumped back into my car and went somewhere else to park.”

Paula was later issued the £100 fine, which would be reduced to £60 if paid within two weeks.

She appealed but it was rejected by I-Park. She now has to pay the £60 fine before September 1.

“If you go further with the appeal, you have to pay the £100. I’m probably just going to pay the £60. I just don’t know if I’d get anywhere.

“I live in Whitehaven but if you’re a tourist and that happens, it’s going to put you off coming again.

“It sounds like loads of people have been caught out by it. It’s just disgusting. I went on with the intention of paying.”

Judith Neill said she had also received a fine after struggling to buy a ticket online.

She said: “There was torrential rain and I was also suffering with my back. I pulled on to the car park and was waiting for the rain to subside before I walked into work.

“I didn’t apply for my ticket straightaway. To be fair, I hadn’t noticed that you only had 10 minutes  to purchase your ticket.

“I sat for a while and then proceeded to pay for parking via my phone but unfortunately couldn’t get a signal at first, probably because of the torrential rain.

“I sat a little while longer and tried again - this time successfully obtained my parking ticket for the day. 

“I then received a £60 fine. I tried speaking to someone about this but to no avail because all you could get was an automated recording.

“I’ve never parked there since. The annoying part about this is that I wasn’t trying to work the system. I did pay for my day’s parking.”

Michael Pemberton, CEO of BEC, was made aware of the issue by The Whitehaven News and said he would be taking up the matter directly with the company.

I-Park was approached for comment but did not respond.

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