A hospital porter was hit with a £100 fine after using a launderette in a pub car park that 'didn't even dry his clothes properly'.
Patrick Foley, 66, parked outside the Welcome Inn, Whitefield, to pay £6 to wash his clothes in the self-service machine.
But days later, he was shocked to receive a £100 fine in the post because he had used the Bury Old Road car park without being a pub patron.
Patrick, who lives opposite the boozer and drove because it was raining, appealed the fine and insisted he had been a pub patron as Revolution Laundry was on their site. But the hospital worker was left stunned after his appeal was initially rejected.
Patrick told the M.E.N: “I can see the pub from my house and I couldn’t miss the fact that they’d recently installed a massive, drive-in laundrette next to the pub.
"I normally take my washing to dry at the local laundrette but, of course, now that there was a new facility (which opened in November) directly opposite the road from me, I thought I would pop over there and give it a try.”
Patrick said he initially paid £3 for a 15-minute cycle, before needing to pay for another dry cycle as his clothes hadn’t properly dried out. Because it was raining that day, he said he decided to wait in his car for the machine to finish. He said he was in the car park for around 40 minutes.
“It was drizzling at the time and I didn’t want to stand around waiting for the clothes to dry so I waited in the car,” Patrick said.
“Ultimately, the clothes were still damp after two cycles so I just took them to my local laundrette in the end anyway. I made a mental note to myself not to bother using the laundrette again because it was rubbish.”
Just before Christmas, Patrick received the penalty notice and said that, despite struggling with technology, he filed an appeal online explaining the circumstances to why he had used the pub’s car park and thought that would be the end of the matter.
“On Tuesday (January 10), I got another letter through the door to say they had considered my appeal and decided to uphold the parking charge notice,” he said.
“They said I am not a patron of the pub but I believe I am a patron of their facilities. The dryer is on their site, the pub knows it’s there.
“How are you supposed to use the laundrette without a car? It’s likely that many people are going to sit and wait in the car.”
Teetotal Patrick, who has never visited the pub despite living next door for 32 years, said he has tried to explain his situation to owner Joseph Holt, who has apparently asked for more evidence.
“I cannot believe they still upheld the original charge,” he said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous that it’s not occurred to them that the person using the laundrette is the patron of the pub. It’s on their ground.
“Why should I have to go to all the hassle of uploading, downloading and compiling evidence for a poxy £6 worth of washing that didn’t even get dried properly? I could have dried it at my local for £2 and it definitely taught me a lesson not to use it again anyway.”
Smart Parking, who issued the fine, has since cancelled it as a gesture of goodwill. However, Patrick issued a warning to other drivers over the threat of parking fines.
“I won't be using it again, it’s a c**p service,” he said. “But I'm sure they should put a notice up saying you might be charged for using the washing machine.
“I think more people should be aware that just because you use the laundrette then you might still get fined. I have seen other people park up to use the washer and I’ve had to go over and warn them that they will get fined £100 if they sit and wait.”
Smart Parking said that cars must be registered in order to legally park at the site. A spokesperson told the M.E.N: "Over the years the car park at the Welcome Inn Pub has suffered from parking abuse, meaning genuine customers were struggling to find places to park.
"To prevent this, Smart Parking were brought into manage the car park using our state of the art ANPR parking management system which monitors car entering and exiting.
"Patrons who use the facilities at the pub can park for free by simply registering on a tablet in the pub. These terms and conditions are clearly highlighted across a number signs both in the pub and car park, and numerous customers use the car park everyday without any issue.
"In the case of this particular motorist they parked without registering so correctly received a charge. However as an act of good will this has now been cancelled."
Khadeeja Paul, Head of Marketing at ME Group UK, which owns Revolution Laundry, said: "We've spoken to the site owner on this occasion and they've agreed to have these hours formally extended. Our Customer Relations team have also seen to having this parking penalty cancelled. We have also done this on previous occasions.
"While we do our best to support customers and ensure they have a great experience with our machines, the variable of different sites can result in some miscommunications. We're constantly working to improve these communications. In this case, we responded and resolved as quickly as possible."
A spokesperson for Joseph Holt said: “We are working with the parking company to resolve this problem and are contacting them to cancel this person's fine.”
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