A cinema-goer has criticised a lack of signage in a Bristol city centre car park after he was locked out on New Year’s Eve. He was unaware of the difference in times for the early closure of The Galleries car park and was subsequently handed a hefty ticket price for leaving his car there overnight.
Tom Ashton had parked at The Galleries car park on New Year’s Eve to catch the 3.15pm showing of Avatar 2 with his father. By the time the film had finished, the car park had closed its shutters locking them both and another person out.
He said: “I live locally but this could severely affect any older or vulnerable people. They are presenting this as merely 'FYI' and not alerting people to the possibility they may not wish to use the car park given limited hours.”
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Mr Ashton claimed there was some information but very few warnings when he went to collect his car the next day. Speaking to BristolLive, he said: “They did put some signage up but it wasn’t very blatant. It wasn’t a warning just information.
“The thing is, you’re potentially standing people at night when other [transport] services aren’t running normally. I happen to live locally, fortunately, but I think they could have had other signs put up in the walkways.”
The shopping centre was open under reduced hours on New Year’s Eve from 9am until 5pm, with the car park closing at 6pm. The film, however, didn’t finish until nearly 7pm when accounting for adverts and the three-and-a-quarter hours running time.
David Wait, Centre Manager at The Galleries said: “Our car park opening hours do change over the festive period due to the differing Mall opening hours; these hours were displayed in every Pay lobby as well as on our website and social media channels. If the shopper would like to contact the Centre Management team directly, we’d be happy to take their feedback on board.”
Mr Ashton was charged the maximum amount for his parking ticket, £18, after he had no choice but to leave his car there overnight - a ticket that should have been £5.20. He also had to fork out for a taxi amounting to £15 both ways, when he went home and then to collect his car on New Year’s Day.
He stated the solution would be to install more obvious signage such as pop-up signs that obstruct your path so you’re forced to read them. Mr Ashton said he intends to request that the shopping centre makes improvements to signage as well as to refund his ticket costs and taxi fares to get home and back in the morning.
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