Wigan motorist refunded after wrongly being issued £100 parking charge

Andrew Marshall said he was shocked to receive a parking ticket after shopping at the Gerard Centre, Ashton.

For two days running Mr Marshall parked his Nissan Qashqai at the centre for around 30 minutes before leaving again but was then shocked to receive a fine for £100 through the post claiming he had parked there for 24 hours continuously.

Customers can park at the centre for two and a half hours for free.

Mr Marshall said he has since been contacted by Civil Enforcement Ltd who he said issued the fine, who have told him that a “mistake” had been made and his fine has been rescinded.

The 57-year-old dad-of-three, of Chesnut Grove, Ashton, said: “I first parked my car at the Gerard Centre at 9.26am on Friday November 29 to go shopping at Quality Save, and came off at about 10am that day. I then returned there on Saturday morning about 8.30am and came off at about 9am. Both times were well within the two-and-a-half hours free parking you get.

“So I was shocked to receive a parking ticket saying I had been parking there for 24 hours. I have images which show my car arriving at and leaving home during this time period.”

Mr Marshall said he has received a similar fine for parking in the centre before despite being there for less than 150 minutes.

He added: “It’s disgraceful what’s happened and it’s something that should never happen. I just want to raise awareness to other shoppers that this is happening.”

Ric Rudkin, director of Quality Save said the chain was concerned to hear about Mr Marshall’s experience.

He said: “Unfortunately Quality Save do not own the car park as we are just tenants on the shopping centre. We will be contacting the centre management agents to ensure that they are aware of the issue and to ensure that they provide a solution to ensure the issue is resolved.”

Calls to Civil Enforcement Ltd’s office in Liverpool got through only to an automatic answering service which collects credit card payments and does not answer queries.

The Hollins Murray Group, who own the centre, declined to comment.