Colchester mum battles parking fine after Euro Car Parks stay

Rosie Welch, 41, paid £1.30 for an hour stay at All Saints car park, in Colchester, when she visited the city centre to pick up her children from a party.

Cameras captured her vehicle entering and leaving the car park over the space of 16 minutes.

But she was later slapped with a £100 parking charge notice for failing to input her full car registration number into a machine.

Adamant she did enter the correct number, Rosie sent a copy of her valid parking ticket and a bank statement proving the payment to parking firm Euro Car Parks.

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“My ticket only has the first two letters of my number plate on it, so the company said therefore that’s a ‘gross keying error’, a breach of contract and I have to pay a £100 fine,” she said.

“There was nowhere on the parking machine which said you have to put your full registration number in and nothing on any of the signs in the car park.

“I can’t prove I didn’t put the whole thing in, but I could prove I had purchased a ticket for the same time my car was in the car park.

“I can only think the machine must have had a printer fault.”

Rosie Welch (Image: Newsquest)

The parking firm agreed to reduce the charge to a £20 administration fee, but unsatisfied with the handling of the issue, Rosie decided to take the matter to Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA).

But POPLA sided with Euro Car Parks, telling Rosie: “While I appreciate that the appellant has demonstrated the intention to make a valid payment, the fact remains that they did not.

“By failing to enter the full and correct vehicle registration, the parking ticket is invalid for the appellant’s vehicle to park.”

With the full £100 now demanded, Rosie said she will have to face court action as she does not have the funds to pay.

The valid ticket Rosie purchased for her stay at the car park (Image: Newsquest)

“Despite paying for a short parking stay, we’ve been left with threatening letters talking about debt recovery and court proceedings,” she said.

“I have nowhere else to turn. I even took it to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau and they said to write to my MP.

“I haven’t got £100, I don’t have that money. If it came to it and they took us to court, I would have to go to court as I can’t physically pay it.”

Rosie took the issue to Lee Scordis, her ward councillor, who said the handling of the charge was “typical” of such parking companies.

“It’s a pretty disgraceful and inhumane way to handle the process,” he said.

The Gazette has approached Euro Car Parks for comment.

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