Peterborough father dismayed after being hit with £100 parking fine attending Dragon Boat Festival

A Peterborough father has been left dismayed after being hit with a £100 parking fine while attending the Dragon Boat Festival with his son in Peterborough.

Jason Duff arrived at the popular event at around 10:30am on Saturday June 10 to look for a place to park before being directed into the car park at the Dragonfly Hotel at Thorpe Meadows.

Given the event, the car park was extremely crowded and those wishing to leave their cars faced a wait in the queue of between 15 and 20 minutes.

Mr Duff said that he happily waited in the queue but was shocked a few weeks later to receive a letter in the post demanding £100 as car park rules state that tickets must be purchased within ten minutes of arrival.

He said: “This must have happened to so many people. The queue was so deep and was at least 15 to 20 minutes long; there must have been 30- 40 people in it. Some people knew how to use the ticket machines and some didn’t. Paying within that time frame was just impossible without jumping the queue.

"The whole thing is grossly unfair and feels designed to catch people out. Everyone in that queue had the intention to buy a ticket and ultimately did so.

“There were lots of families there with children and money is tight for so many at the minute, £100 really isn’t a small amount of money at a time like this."

Mr Duff appealed the fine only to find it rejected by Civil Enforcement Limited, the company that owns the car park.

The appeal decision simply stated: “On this occasion, your appeal has been unsuccessful for the following reason:

“Signs in the above car park clearly advise payment for parking must be made within ten minutes of arrival and on this occasion you failed to do so.

“It is the responsibility of the driver to ensure they adhere to the parking terms.”

He added: “I’m definitely not paying. I’m sure that I’m not the only one in this situation and I hope others can come forward too.

"The whole thing just isn’t right and I plan to take this case further to the British Parking Association.”

The Peterborough Telegraph has contacted Civil Enforcement for comment.