Progress on complaints over car parking fines at West Quay Retail Park in Southampton

Motorists who were issued fines at West Quay Retail Park have started to see them cancelled after months of waiting.

Complaints flooded in from shoppers and Southampton city centre workers who said they were caught out by a tariff change introduced late last year, with confusion largely around a rule requiring drivers to pay again after 8pm.

Clive Loosemore was among those affected after taking his grandson to his first football match at St Mary’s Stadium on a mid-week evening in October.

He said the payment machine would not allow him to pay beyond 8pm.

Mr Loosemore, who lives in Holtwood, Dorset, unsuccessfully appealed the charge and refused to pay the private parking firm while Southampton City Council’s trading standards team investigated.

This week he was told by retail park managers Cushman and Wakefield that Britannia Parking would be cancelling his penalty.

He said: “Ironically three hours after that email arrived, I got a letter through the post that told me they (Britannia Parking) were still pursuing it.

“Now that’s just a timing thing I think.”

Mr Loosemore said fines probably had to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

He raised former councillor Jeremy Moulton, trading standards, and Cushman and Wakefield for working to resolve his case.

The council said Britannia Parking was set to introduce a new parking tariff soon.

While Mr Loosemore received confirmation his penalty would be cancelled, other drivers said they were yet to receive updates.

Deborah Hiscock, from Ashurst, paid two fines issued after last year’s changes, which included the removal of free parking for blue badge holders.

Mrs Hiscock said: “We don’t have a problem with blue badge holders paying if we had known but the signage was so poor.

“They have got you over a barrel and they know it.

“I will never park in that car park again.

“City centre’s need footfall and it is not going to encourage people to come if they get all these issues.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands a list of cases is being reviewed.

Southampton City Council’s trading standards team has been investigating since February after receiving complaints about unclear signage.

A council spokesperson said: “The aim of trading standards is to help businesses to trade fairly and comply with legislation and to help consumers to protect themselves when shopping or buying services.

“Trading standards assessed the signage following customer complaints and determined that it was confusing.

“They contacted the managing agents, who acted quickly to change the signs in March.

“The managing agents and Britannia Parking have since been working on a new parking tariff.

“We understand that this will be introduced soon, with new signage and updates to payment machines and the relevant parking app.”

The council said it did not manage parking fines or appeals for West Quay Retail Park and it did not record how many parking charge notices had been issued, cancelled or refunded by private operators.

Mr Moulton, who represented Millbrook as a Conservative councillor until last month’s elections, said he had been involved in around 50 cases.

He said a few people had told him they had successfully appealed their fine at the second attempt.

Mr Moulton said: “No doubt there were many, many more people unfairly fined and I strongly feel the council should be seeking a review of all cases affected by the 8pm cut off.”

He added there should be a proactive exercise to identify those affected and reimburse them.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted Britannia Parking for comment.

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