I was fined £100 after a car park attendant LOCKED me in – I’m fuming

A DRIVER was furious after being slapped with a £100 parking fine when an attendant locked HER in a car park.

Georgie Lamburt said it is “absolutely outrageous” that the firm who operate the lot, Parkingeye, ordered her to pay for THEIR mistake.

Geoirgina Lambert/ The SunGeorgie was trapped inside the car park when the gates were shut and locked[/caption]

Georgina Lambert/ The SunGeorgie had taken her dog, Colin, for a walk that morning[/caption]

Georgie had parked up at the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre adjacent car park in Waltham Forest, East London, to walk her dog, Colin, in October last year.

She paid £3.20 for one hour of parking around 8.30am, returning 55 minutes later.

But when she tried to drive her van out of the lot, she claimed all the gates were locked.

She told The Sun: “I paid for the full hour, but got back to my van about five minutes before the hour was up.

“I know what Parkingeye are like, so I didn’t overstay.

“But when I went to drive out, both of the gates were shut up and locked.”

And by this time, the dog walker was unable to pick up a group of dogs for her next walk – seeing her lose out on £150 worth of wages.

She said: “I was panicking because I knew a lot of people were relying on me to take their dogs for a walk.

“I was in quite a lot of distress because I needed to get to work.”

After more than an hour of scrambling around messaging other local dog walkers for help, she eventually managed to get hold of a parking attendant with a key.

CCTV shows Georgie was still trapped inside the car park at 10.14am.

She said: “I told the attendendant thanks so much for coming to help me, and asked him what time the car park actually opens – because there’s no signage anywhere stating the times.

“He said it wasn’t his branch that he opens up and he wasn’t quite sure himself what time it opened.

“He said it was by no fault of my own that I was trapped in there. You would just assume open gates, open car park.

“I was pretty p***ed off at this point, I was just thankful that he came and got me out.”

PARKING MAD

But a month late later, Georgie was slapped with a £100 fine, reduced for fast payment, from Parkingeye in the post.

She said: “To be honest, I didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t expect to get a fine at all.

“There were around five cameras inside that showed I was stuck, it was completely out of my control.”

The company claimed that as she had entered into an agreement to use the lot for one hour when buying her ticket, the extra hour she remained trapped inside was a “breach of contract”.

The 28-year-old slammed the fine as “unfair and outrageous,” adding: “At the end of the day it’s 60 quid – it’s not the be all and end all, but out of principle I was just like ‘no, I’m not paying’.

“I think it is absolutely outrageous that they are making me pay a fine to be trapped inside.”

She also slammed the suggestion that she should have bought more tickets to cover the time she spent trapped inside.

Georgie said she initially complained to Parkingeye, who turned her appeal down.

And after appealing the charge through Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) her bid to dodge the fine was REJECTED, she said.

But since being contacted by The Sun, Parkingeye said that Georgie’s Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) will be cancelled.

A spokesperson for Parkingeye told The Sun: “The car park at Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre is monitored by ANPR camera systems and has prominent and highly-visible signage that gives motorists clear guidance on how to use the car park responsibly.

“During October, the centre’s operating hours was 12 midday to 10pm and the motorist received a Parking Charge Notice for parking outwith these hours. However following a review of the case we have cancelled the PCN as a gesture of goodwill.

“Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their Parking Charge Notice. If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing to Parkingeye.”

Georgina Lambert/ The SunParkingeye has now agreed to cancel the PCN[/caption]

Georgina Lambert/ The SunThe dog walker said the fine is ‘outrageous’[/caption]

Georgina Lambert/ The SunThe 28-year-old missed out on £150 worth of wages because she was unable to drive to work on time[/caption]