I was fined £100 for picking my daughter up from Primark – it’s outrageous

A MAN was left outraged after being fined £100 for picking up his daughter from work at a Primark store.

John Bell-Ward, from Telford in Shropshire, claims he stopped in a bay near the fashion store so that he could collect his daughter and drive her home.

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But the family man was left in shock when days later, he received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) in the post.

The dad claims that the drop-off/pick-up area offers a free ten-minute stay monitored through ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras.

Mr Bell-Ward told the ShropshireStar: “It was a cold, dark night, and due to the influx of Christmas shoppers, she was a few minutes later than usual coming out. I was waiting in the drop-off zone, collected her and left.

“Unbeknown to me, I had overstayed the allotted time by three minutes. The signage available at the area is unlit and so went unseen.”

The man said he has been “battling” Smart Parking Ltd, which issued the fine, over their no grace policy.

Mr Bell-Ward, who says he has now paid the £100 charge after a threat of court action, said: “I have since been battling with Smart Parking Ltd, which has been a process fraught with non-compliance with the statute and unethical reasoning.

“I hope that in the wake of sharing this experience, others may benefit from a much-needed review of appeals that take into account ethical and moral responsibility that should already be in place and much more so in a cost-of-living crisis.

“Smart Parking Ltd should be shamed and be respondent by way of acknowledging that shame.”

A spokesperson from Smart Parking Ltd said: “The area in question is a drop-off zone and is not meant for parking. We allow 10 minutes for people to drop off and collect, but in this particular instance the driver was parked for 14 minutes.”

This comes after a homeowner revealed that a neighbour was constantly blocking their driveway, so they were going to fence it off.

Plus, a car expert warned drivers about simple errors that could result in fines of up to £2,500 during this summer’s wedding season.