A mum has been left outraged after being fined £100 for not buying a parking ticket in time - despite the ticket machine apparently not working properly. Kerrie Hart, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, tried to pay for a stay in the Excel car park off Siddals Road on February 28.
But the machine was out of service and the company's app was not responding, so she had to get cash back from a local shop to pay with coins at another machine. It meant she took 20 minutes to pay - and with Excel's rules meaning customers only have 10 minutes to pay upon arrival, she has now been given a £100 fine.
Mrs Hart told DerbyshireLive: "I'll never park in one of their car parks again. They're rubbish. I went to a party there last year as well and I struggled then too. I remember moaning to the other half about it. They're failing the public by not having working machines."
The incident occurred on Sunday, February 28 when Mrs Hart, 36, had travelled from Ilkeston to Derby to take her daughter to a children's birthday party at Jumpin Fun Trampoline Park. Upon attempting to purchase a ticket at the machine, she realised, in the presence of other mums, that it was out of service.
The noticeboard, on Copeland Street, has two machines next to it, and Mrs Hart says both of them were covered by big yellow sacks with the message: "Machine Not In Use". A message on the noticeboard advised customers to download the Excel parking app instead.
Mrs Hart says she did this and entered the location code, but that it would not register. Someone suggested another app, and all of the parents at the machine attempted to pay using that one instead, but it Mrs Hart claims it was unsuccessful for all involved despite three or four attempts.
Mrs Hart claims she rang the helpline number displayed on the noticeboard but could not get through due to it being a weekend. Excel say that they have no record of Mrs Hart attempting to ring and that their helpline is 24 hours.
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In the meantime, Mrs Hart had spoken to members of the Jumpin Fun team at their reception, but they could not help due to the car park being a completely separate entity from their business. At that point, another member of the party suggested using the machine at the back of the building, which only operated using coins.
Ms Hart again entered the Jumpin Fun premises to ask if they could change her notes into coins, but she was told that they could not help and she'd have to go to their cafe instead. At that point, she signed a waiver to allow her daughter to go to the party without her.
After purchasing a hot chocolate from the vendor and getting some change for her £10 note, she could finally pay at the second machine and managed to buy herself a ticket. She put it on the dashboard and carried on with her day.
Three weeks later, she received a letter in the post. It was a parking charge notice, fining her £100 because she'd missed the grace period and had been parked for 20 minutes and 19 seconds before she bought her ticket.
She appealed immediately, but her appeal was turned down. The three other mothers involved were also fined; one had hers rescinded after the appeal but the others, like Kerrie, are still fighting.
The fine would've been reduced to £60 if Mrs Hart had paid within a certain period, but since her appeal was rejected, the full charge now applies. She says that she has been advised it will rise to £170 if she continues to refuse payment.
She said: "It's just annoying how they keep coming back at me when they know they're the ones at fault. It's annoying having to fight every week. If I was in the wrong I'd agree and pay but I'm not. What do they think I was doing for that length of time? If I was going to get a ticket, which I did, why would I not do that for twenty minutes by choice? And how can they let one parent off and not another?"
The machine is allegedly still out of use, but the note seen by Mrs Hart when she attended is now gone and a different location code is visible on the board. A Jumpin Fun representative explained that the car park issues are also causing them problems and that they are trying everything they can to sort out the situation.
They said: "We do not own the car park. It is on a lease between Excel & a private landlord. There is very little we can do to intervene. We have been made aware of quite a few instances like this recently and we wish there was more we could do to help.
"We have on many occasions tried to arrange for payment machines to be installed within our premises and they are requests that are just ignored. We have put in no end of complaints about the machines servicing the area as they are not fit for purpose and again, these requests fall on deaf ears. We have had tickets issued against our own staff which we have attempted to fight and again they are not always successful.
"We are a small independent business which the recent changes it is impacting. We are exploring every last avenue possible to find the best possible outcome for us as a business and for our valued customers. All we ask is that customers please be careful when parking and do revisit us whilst we can come to some form of a solution in the not-so-distant future."
A representative for Excel Parking Services Ltd said: "On the day in question there were two fully operational pay meters at Copeland Street. The phone and app payment options are provided by a third-party company and as such we cannot comment as to why Mrs Hart struggled to make use of the service. We can, however, see that multiple app/ phone payments were made throughout the day.
"Additionally, Excel Parking Services Ltd offers a daily 24-hour helpline service for any user of the car park who experiences difficulties making payment of the tariff. Despite alleging she had, we have been unable to locate a record of any call from Mrs Hart on the day in question. We will be contacting Mrs Hart directly to discuss this matter further with her. All appeals are accessed on their individual merits and as such we cannot comment on a parking charge issued to another motorist."
