Grantham man receives £100 fine for returning to Sankt Augustin Retail park four seconds too soon to return Next clothes that didn’t fit

A man was left “staggered” when he received a £100 fine for returning to a car park four seconds too early.

Nigel Eaton parked for 16 minutes at the Sankt Augustin Way retail park, in Grantham, on June 3, collecting an item from Next.

He then left and returned less than two hours later to the same car park, to return the item because it didn’t fit, where he parked again for 17 minutes.

But the car park has a ‘no return within two hours’ policy and Nigel was left surprised when he received a parking fine just over a week later in the post for returning to the car park within two hours.

Nigel worked out that from the timings of when he parked, he had missed the two-hour limit by only four seconds. He departed the car park in the first instance 3.12pm and 45 seconds, and returned at 5.12pm and 41 seconds.

“I was left absolutely staggered to receive this,” said Nigel.

He added: “I had to go back to the same shop to return an item, I didn’t know there was a restriction.

“It’s overzealous in my opinion. It’s a retail park, lots of people will probably return within this limit.

“Only the other day, my daughter-in-law dropped her debit card and she had to go back to get it back. She will probably get a fine now!

“I was only there for 34 minutes in total. While I suspect it is most likely an automated system, I think they need to make it clearer with a sign.”

Nigel lodged an appeal and Parking Eye, a private car parking operator, has now cancelled his fine.

A Parking Eye spokesperson said: “The car park at Sankt Augustin Way features prominent and highly-visible signs throughout providing information on how to use the car park responsibly.

“This includes guidance on how all motorists have a maximum two hour stay, as well as no return within two hours.

“The system is in place to prevent long-stay parking abuse and ensure that spaces are available for customers of the retail park.

“Parking Eye 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 and providing any supporting evidence. We can confirm that the motorist’s charge was cancelled on appeal.”