Shocked pubgoers hit with £100 ‘fines’ after Elmwood Farm in Sheffield installs parking cameras
“It is important that customers can easily find a parking space close to the pub”
Shocked pubgoers have been hit with £100 ‘fines’ after bosses lost patience with non-customers using the car park.
Elmwood Farm on Beighton Link Business Park, Swallownest, has installed cameras so guests can “easily find a parking space close to the pub.”
But the recent change caught some off guard.
On a local Facebook forum, one member said she had received a demand for £100 because she hadn’t registered her car on a tablet in the premises.
Another said she’d received a letter after failing to seeing the notices because she was on ‘auto-pilot’.
But she had been back to the pub where staff had cancelled it.
A third wondered why it was necessary.
“What's the point of it anyway? Are people really parking their car in their car park and going elsewhere and if so where? There's nothing round there.”
Responding, a member said it was due to people parking to visit Rother Valley Country park.
A spokesperson for Elmwood Farm said: “To ensure the best possible experience for our customers when they visit Elmwood Farm, it is important that they can easily find a parking space close to the pub.
“We have occasionally experienced our car park being used by people who are not visiting the pub, which can reduce availability for our guests. To help address this, we have introduced a new parking management system. Parking remains free of charge for genuine pub customers.”
In the event “genuine pub customers” mistakenly receive a parking notice charge, they should contact the Greene King Customer Relations team, they added.
Private parking firms send Parking Charge Notices, which sound similar to Penalty Charge Notices issued by councils and police, they also have the same initials: PCN.
But many argue they are simply invoices for allegedly breaching terms and conditions written by a parking company.