Banbury pensioners complain after being fined £120 parking charges for 'retail experience'

Jackie Edwards and three friends, all senior citizens, had a rare get together that has cost them over £120 because of the time limits at Gateway Retail Park.

Mrs Edwards said the fines came as a shock as she had not seen the time limit warnings on the signs.

"The signs are very high up and the four-hour warning is small and difficult to see. The one as you approach Tesco is large and clear – there is no doubt about the time limit but at Gateway you would only look after you got a fine,” she said.

Mrs Edwards and her friend paid their fines. Each had to pay £60 within two weeks or the fine would increase to £100. Her friend lost an additional £2.20 trying (unsuccessfully) to pay the fine by phone and a further £1.50 online fee.

She says the signs are not obvious but Highview Parking, which runs the system, said the warnings are ‘visible at all points’.

Mrs Edwards met her three friends, who had travelled separately, at the retail park. They started their retail experience by having a coffee and a catch-up in Marks & Spencer. They then some spent time looking at the store’s sale and stayed on to have lunch together.

After that they went to Fat Face to shop after which they finished their outing together and went home.

“I was sale time and the whole point about these shopping areas is to have a retail experience with food, refreshments and browsing in the stores. I’ve never been to a retail park and had limited parking,” she said.

"I see they don’t want workers on the industrial estate using the place as free parking – but perhaps they should give shoppers six hours’ parking.

“I dispute that the signs are obvious and they are faded. We have paid the fines because we accept we went over the limit but the whole point about these out of town retail parks is to spent time - and money - there.”

"As you drive in you’ve got about three or four roads joining together with a lot of traffic. You can't take the time to look at the sign, let alone read it all. And then once you have parked the signs are above your head. You don’t have to get a ticket so you never read them that high up.”

Mrs Edwards says Tesco is a single shop enterprise so a three hour limit is fair where Gateway is marketed as a place for people to go and eat, shop and spend leisure time. Four hours would be extremely easy to exceed, she says.

James Harrison, of Highview Parking said: “There are 23 signs in total; 18 of those are double sided which I think means the 4-hour maximum stay is shown 41 times on the site in total. These are placed carefully around the site so they are visible at all points.

“We are constantly reviewing the placement of the signage and ensure that they are both clear and positioned above head height to ensure pedestrians don't walk into them.”