Who knows where the time goes?
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2019 11:45 am
First it was retail parks, then came station car parks. Now drivers who fill their car up at garages, or use the car wash are being hit with £100 demands from private parking companies for staying too long.
Both BP and Shell have been quietly signing up parking firms to install CCTV cameras at the entrances and exits to petrol stations, which are then used to enforce a maximum stay limit – which can be 30 minutes at a BP station and as little as 20 minutes at a Shell station. Fail to comply, and you’ll face £100 demands and the threat of debt collectors.
The problem is that few drivers are aware of these maximum stays that have been appearing at forecourts all over the country. They particularly catch out those who, after filling up, go on to other services such as the cafes, shops, and especially, car washes.
The restrictions have to be clearly signed at petrol stations, but drivers say they can be easily missed when negotiating busy sites or junctions – particularly after dark.
Gareth Hughes, who lives in south London, is a BP customer who fell foul of this policy. He was recently sent a letter threatening the debt recovery agents after he failed to pay a £100 parking charge demand by MET Parking Services – a private company contracted by BP. His crime? He exceeded the 30 minute maximum permitted stay at the busy BP garage on Mitcham Road in Croydon, south London.
“After I filled the car, I went in to pay. I decided while paying to also use the car wash, and having paid for that returned to the car. There were perhaps six cars in front of me waiting to use the wash. I certainly didn’t see any signs warning of the 30 minute limit,” he says
It later emerged that his wife, the car’s registered keeper, had been sent a previous unopened letter from MET, which had demanded the charge, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. He had been on the site for 47 minutes, it said. He says he paid the £100 fearing debt collectors might turn up at their house.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/ ... g-too-long
