Yahoo News Shocked Exeter driver fined after parking machine mix-up
A driver has warned of 'confusing' parking rules at Exeter St David's after being hit with a fine whilst parking at the busy station's car park. Katie Crowe says she paid for a stay at the car park but unknowingly used a machine that was for those parking in a road next to it.
She says the location of the payment meter in such close proximity to the separate parking areas, one maintained by APCOA and the other by Devon County Council, makes it confusing to car park users. An appeal lodged with APCOA was unsuccessful but the fine has now been overturned after the case was taken up by DevonLive and brought to APCOA's attention.
Katie recalled: "I parked at Exeter St David's on March 22 to get the train to Totnes and approached the sign right by my car with details about how to pay for my parking. There was a machine right behind the sign, basically practically attached to the sign, so I paid and took the train.
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"About a week later I received a £50 fine from APCOA which came as a complete surprise. I went down to the station and realised that the machine behind the sign was not related to the car park area but to Bonhay Road.
"I submitted an appeal which was immediately rejected. I feel strongly that they should remove the sign and make it extremely clear that the machine behind the sign does not correspond to the parking area at Exeter St David's car park.
"It’s seriously misleading and unfair to all those parking and using the wrong machine - I bet they’ve had loads of people doing the same and appealing before me."
In the appeal response from APCOA, it states it had carefully considered the evidence provided but the appeal had been unsuccessful.
The letter said: "Although we appreciate the evidence provided, you have paid via the wrong app. When paying by phone you should use APCOA Connect, but you paid using the RingGo app.
"This is a separate company and therefore your payment was allocated to another car park. This means your payment wasn’t valid.
"All payment options are advertised on site. The signage within the car park informs drivers that a PCN will be issued if they fail to make a valid payment.
"As your vehicle was parked in contravention of the terms and conditions of the site we are satisfied that the notice was correctly issued in accordance with the BPA code of practice, and therefore not able to waiver the charge on this occasion."
Katie was advised that she could pay the parking charge notice at the discounted price of £50 within 14 days which would then increase to £100, or she could make an appeal to POPLA, the independent appeals service, within 28 days but that the parking charge notice would be considered at the full amount of £100.
Katie subsequently paid the fine. After DevonLive contacted APCOA, it confirmed that as a gesture of goodwill, the money will be refunded.
An APCOA spokesperson said: “We are sorry to say that unfortunately, the customer’s payment was not valid for the station car park in which they were parked. It was made for Devon County Council’s adjacent on-street parking spaces along Bonhay Road.
"We have investigated and found that the APCOA signage in the car park is in compliance with BPA standards. However, although this was a case of customer error, as a gesture of goodwill we have cancelled the charge on this occasion.
"Any concerns about the clarity of signage on the council’s payment machine should be raised with Devon County Council.”
