Park at your peril

May 16 2008 by Sarah Bull, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

I WOULD like to inform the people of Huddersfield of what I consider to be a scam. The company below operate a parking enforcement service for the retailers at the Castlegate Retail Park, St John’s Road.

Civil Enforcement Ltd, PO Box 9366, Nottingham, NG4 9BQ, www.ce-services.co.uk have signs erected that state customers have 90 minutes free parking (no time period is stated), if this period is exceeded they will recover charges by using CCTV then applying to DVLC to obtain personal details.

I parked in this car park at 7.20pm on March 21 (Good Friday) and stayed until 9.08pm.

On April 2 I received a Parking Contravention Enforcement notice from the above company. This demanded a payment of £120 or £60 if I paid the fine within 14 days. Obviously I was shocked.

It was evening and a bank holiday. I had not seen any notices and if I had I would not have expected restrictions to apply at this time.

Do the people of Huddersfield agree with parking charges being enforced when retailers are closed?

That we have operators based outside our area, that can obtain personal details then demand money with menaces?

CCTV may be a good idea to protect us from things but for them to be used to fleece the public, is this fair and just?

Please take care residents of Huddersfield. Having an evening in the town centre can cost you more than you think. Other visitors beware, retailers charge you to park when they are closed. Is this the message Huddersfield should be sending out to encourage people to visit out town?

Pamela Iredale

Kirkheaton