Birmingham Asda shopper hit with £200 in parking fines say they 'make no sense'

A shopper says he is planning to boycott a Birmingham supermarket after racking up £200 of parking fines he claims 'make no sense'. Tyrone Samuel said he received the hefty charges after two recent visits to the ASDA Queslett store in Great Barr.

Tyrone says both fines, issued by Parkingeye, state that he exceeded the car park's three hour limit - despite the letters confirming his stays were 44 minutes and 1 hour 10 minutes respectively. When contacted by Birmingham Live, the parking firm insisted the bill is actually for parking outside of permitted hours.

Parkingeye said drivers are "strictly prohibited" from parking in the car park outside of the following hours: Monday to Saturday 7am – 10pm and 10am – 4pm on Sunday when the store is open. Tyrone said he was refusing to pay and would go to court as the fine said he had exceeded the three hours allowed and he had not.

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"There is no way we're paying it, we're prepared to go all the way from a court perspective, we are not paying it," the 36-year-old driver told BirminghamLive. "There's no logic, rhyme or reason to it." Tyrone and his partner have been shopping at the store, just five minutes from their home, for the past seven years every Sunday. "We've never had an issue so I don't understand what's changed," he said.

"We will stop shopping there and go to our nearest shop and we'll probably end up going to Tesco in West Bromwich, which is much further away, another 20 minutes extra." The couple were first fined £60 on October 9, following an hour and ten minute trip three days before.

"It said we were in there for an hour and ten minutes - but we're not allowed to park in the car park for longer than three hours. So the letter itself makes no sense," he explained.

"Whilst we knew it was a load of rubbish, we submitted an appeal for that. We submitted it but within 48 hours of submitting it, we then got an email saying we'd not appealed the letter yet, even though we've got a reference saying that we have.

"We were told if we didn't submit an appeal soon then we'd be charged the full amount £100." The couple continued their weekly shop at the store, and on November 21 were fined again.

"We had another letter issued from an event that happened on November 17 where we were in there for 43 minutes and it's an identical letter saying that you only get up to three hours and we've got to pay another £60 or £100 if you don't pay it within 14 days," Tyrone explained.

The couple appealed it again, but have faced the same issues. Mr Samuel predicts there must be "a lot of people" who will be receiving the letter imminently, or who have already paid the fine. He added: "The interesting thing for me is that it specifically says on these letters that you can't stay in these car parks for longer than three hours, but then the front of the letter says the time is less than three hours. I raised the question with staff at Asda they basically said it's nothing to do with us you need to go online.

"It's just a nightmare because there's nobody to speak to or anything like that, everything's automated. We're just really not happy about it." Parkingeye, which issued the fines, said there are 27 "prominent and highly-visible signs" around the car park to offer guidance.

A Parkingeye spokesperson told BirminghamLive: “The car park at Asda Queslett, Birmingham is monitored by ANPR camera systems and has 27 prominent and highly-visible signs that give motorists clear guidance on how to use the car park responsibly.

“Motorists are advised on the car park rules, the times parking is permitted, 7 am – 10 pm (Mon-Sat) and 10 am – 4 pm (Sunday), and that parking is strictly prohibited outside of those times. The motorist parked in the car park on November 17th outside of the permitted hours, breaking the rules of the site, and therefore receiving a parking charge.

“Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charge. If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing to Parkingeye.”

Have you been affected by this? We would like to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing stephanie.balloo@reachplc.com.