Parking charge for a ten-minute overstay. Can you advise me on what to do?

A week ago my wife and I did our weekly shop in the local Waitrose. The carpark apparently is controlled by Euro Car Parks with a limited stay of 90 minutes. My has recently had a knee replacement operation and at the moment is not very mobile. When we got back to the car we had overstayed our time by 10 minutes and the attendant told us the charge was £70 and if I paid it within two weeks it would be £50. I appreciate that I had overstayed my allotted time but I think £70 is a bit of a ripoff.

Asked on 22 September 2012 by DJ, Caldicot

Answered by Honest John

Of 1,800,000 ‘parking charges’ issued by members of the BPA last year, 550,000 remained unpaid, 845 resulted in commencement of court action, 49 actually went to court and BPA members won 24. Those are the odds. However, if you don't pay, you face increasing levels of harassment, so, if you can afford to pay the £50, do so rather than incur the nastiness and consequent personal upset this may cause.

Tags: legal and consumer advice parking charges

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