Home Bargains/TJ Morris have been made aware of £100 fines being issued to drivers parking outside their recently-reopened store at Bridgend Retail Park.
The car park is privately run by the Chorley-based company Parking Eye (so it has little to do with BCBC).
The store opens at 8 am and there’s a time limit of up to two hours of free parking for customers.
However, fines have been issued by Parking Eye to drivers who park before 9 am regardless of how long they’ve been there. Some reports on social media suggest stops as short as 10-15 minutes have resulted in fines for non-payment and caused confusion and upset amongst blue badge holders.
Bridgend town councillor Cllr. Ian Williams (Ind, Oldcastle) has raised the matter urgently with both companies and recently provided an update.
“Parking is permitted during store opening times and fines have been issued to anyone parking outside those times.
“They have now extended those times 30 minutes either side of the store opening times and I have asked Parking Eye to ask the landlords to agree to rescind any fines issued and reimburse those who have been scared into paying.
“I am waiting for an email to confirm everything and I was told that would be sometime today.
I have also asked BCBC for the Advertising Planning Consent that enables Parking Eye to put up their parking conditions in the car park.”
– Cllr. Ian Williams
Cllr. Williams has promised further updates. His Facebook page is here.
Parking Eye has previously featured on BBC’s Watchdog due to issues with their number plate recognition systems and software.
