A woman who took more than five minutes to pay for parking is being taken to court for almost £2,000.
Rosey Hudson said she couldn’t pay via her mobile phone in Copeland Street car park, Derby, because the signal wasn’t strong enough.
Miss Hudson said she went to a spot where she could get online and paid in full for her parking, but operator Excel Parking sent her fines anyway.
The firm accused Miss Hudson of being “the author of her own misfortune” but she told the BBC the five-minute payment rule was “totally unreasonable”.
She said: “This has been going on for over a year now and I’m just really hoping it can be resolved.”
Miss Hudson said she started using Copeland Street car park in February last year while working at the nearby Derbion indoor shopping centre.
She said the ticket machine at the car park was out of order, so she tried using the parking app, but was unable to so she used the wi-fi at the retail hub to make the payment.
Despite paying the £3.30 daily rate, she received a penalty charge notice (PCN) ordering her to pay £100 within 28 days or £60 if she paid within 14.
Miss Hudson said she paid that fine to keep the parking company at bay, but then received another nine PCNs for £100 each.
That total amount soared to £1,905.76 after Excel Parking added a £70 debt recovery charge to each fine with an annual interest rate of 8 percent, a court fee of £115 and £80 in legal costs.
But it seems Miss Hudson was not alone in falling foul of the five-minute rule. Hundreds of customers at Jumpin Fun inflatable park next to the car park had also received PCNs from Excel Parking, according to the BBC. Excel said changes were made to allow customers to pay via touchscreens at Jumpin Fun’s reception.
An Excel Parking spokesperson told the BBC the signage at the car park made it clear it was “Pay on Entry” and there was a maximum period of five minutes to purchase the parking tariff.
They added: “This is one of the specific terms and conditions for use of the car park. It is the driver’s responsibility to read and understand the terms.
“It seems that Miss Hudson is the author of her own misfortune.”
Excel Parking’s spokesperson explained its rule demanding drivers pay within five minutes was to “mitigate” against the car park being abused by people using the site for drop off and pick up from nearby retailers.
It also claimed Miss Hudson took between 14 and 190 minutes to pay, a claim she described as “absolutely ludicrous” and blamed the app for taking too long to process the payment.
The company claimed too that Miss Hudson was offered the option of appealing to the Independent Appeals Service, but she didn’t. She has insisted she contacted Excel Parking and a debt recovery service instead, in an ultimately failed bid to appeal.
After a settlement between Miss Hudson and Excel Parking couldn’t be reached via telephone mediation, she has now been told the case will be heard in court within six months.