A woman has claimed she received a parking fine after using a Tesco car park in Swansea city centre, despite the ticket validation machine being out of order when she tried to use it. Catherine Williams said the incident happened when she visited the supermarket chain's Marina store on June 12.
The store's car park now uses a system to track the amount of time people park there, with automatic number plate recognition cameras capturing the registration of cars as they enter, and a system in place which gives shoppers a code to type into a machine outside the store as they leave, which tracks their time of exit.
But Ms Williams, from Mumbles, said that on the day in question the machine was out of order and she went into the store to explain the situation to staff, who assured her that as long as she had not exceeded her allotted parking time she would be fine. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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Ms Williams took their word for it and revisited the store on another couple of occasions whilst the machine was still out of action. But around two weeks later she received a fine for her first visit to the store from Apcoa Parking, which manages the system on behalf of the store. The letter Ms Williams received claimed she had not verified the tickets, which she said she was unable to do. She now fears she will receive further fines for her other visits.
She said: "I went in to do my shopping as usual, spent over £120 there, and got the ticket they give you to verify your parking. I'd been there a few times and I knew what to do. I went to the machine and it was out of order. I went back in, spoke to the security guard, and he said, 'don't worry, as long as you're under the two hours you won't get a fine.' And low and behold, I got a fine.
"I have been in a couple of times since then and done exactly the same thing. The machine was out of action for about two, two and a half weeks. If I pay it within 28 days it will be £40, but if I pay it afterwards it will be £70. Also, on top of this, because my car is leased, the original bill goes to my leasing company, and they charge a £10 fee to send it off to me as an admin fee. I have contested it and I have had an e-mail back saying it was being looked into and I would hear back within 28 days."
The cameras were introduced back in 2021 after representatives of Tesco argued that the car park, which is a short walk from Swansea beach and city centre shops, was "coming under considerable pressure and is being used by non-Tesco customers." You can read more about that by clicking here.
Ms Williams said she had since learned that there was a system where you could validate your parking stay online by midnight, which she was not aware of at the time. She said her concern was for many older people who did not have the internet and would be incapable of following such an alternative method.
She said: "Had the security guard told me you could do it that way, I would have done it that way. It's frustrating because they are taking advantage of people. If I had gone over the two hours it's my fault and I would have paid the fine, but when I spent money in Tesco and did everything correct apart from verifying it, which I couldn't do because the machines aren't working, it isn't fair I'm getting a ticket for it.
"There were about three other people who told me the same thing happened to them after I wrote what happened online. I went into Tesco yesterday to speak to them and they said they'd had so many people coming in to complain about it. They said there was nothing they could do directly because it was administered by a private company.
"It has 100% made the shopping experience there much more difficult since this system was introduced. I won't park in there now. I'd go to Tesco in Bridgend but I wouldn't go back there now, not a chance. It puts you off. My concern is the old dears who are having these tickets flying through the door and they are just paying them because they wouldn't know any different."
A Tesco spokeswoman said: “We were sorry to hear about this error. We have contacted the company who manage parking enforcement at our Swansea Marina Superstore to have this rectified.”
A spokesman for Apcoa Parking added: "‘The customer appealed the PCN directly with APCOA (on July 5) and the information from our systems had been reviewed by our appeals team who cancelled the PCN on this occasion. The decision will be communicated directly to Ms Williams’."
