Sheffield dad's £300 bill for 15 minutes extra in leisure centre car park when child was ill
“They are charging me £300 for a five minute overstay after my daughter had been ill”
A dad who spent five minutes too long in Sheffield car park because his young daughter was ill has been threatened with a £300 bill.
Sheffield dad John Taylor had taken his four year old daughter swimming at Ponds Forge when the youngster became unwell as they got ready to leave.
Because of the length of time his daughter spent in the toilet before they were finally able to head off home, their parking ticket ran out 15 minutes before they drove off from the popular leisure centre and pool.
John thought little of it - until a letter demanding he paid a parking fine dropped through the door at his home in Nether Edge.
It turned out that he had overstayed the two hours he paid for parking by 15 minutes - just five minutes over the 10 minute leeway that the company ParkingEye allows.
He challenged the fine, explaining the circumstances, but his appeal was rejected.
John tried to enter into discussions with Ponds Forge and Parking Eye but heard little back, he claims.
The incident at Ponds Forge was in December 2022 and after nearly four years, John thought it had been forgotten.
But last week he received a letter from bailiffs - sending him papers telling him they are taking him to the County Court for a claim of £308.
He said: “I'm not sure I have the energy to fight them, so will probably pay this week.
“They are charging me £300 for a five minute overstay after my daughter had been ill. It is supposed to be a family friendly venue.
“It seems very strange, and I’ve not been there since because of what happened. I made a mistake that has led to this. It feels like a ‘computer says no’ situation. It feels as though Ponds Forge would probably have scrapped it if they hadn’t handed control over to another organisation.
“My problem with Ponds Forge is that they handed parking over to some company, and they are clearly not in control of it. They say they want to engage people with sport and health, but have contracts with an organisation who doesn’t care if your child is ill. They picked the contractor. They should be able to tell them what to do.”
He feels ParkingEye pursued the charge aggressively without responding when he tried to tell them about the mitigating circumstances.
John previously told Ponds Forge management: “While the approach might have been reasonable, for example, if I had been on my, own it is clearly not reasonable for a parent with a young child who is unwell.”
The Star contacted Everyone Active, which now runs Ponds Forge. They said they did not run the venue at the time of the incident, and declined to comment further.
Parkingeye said in a statement: “The Sheffield City Trust Ponds Forge car park in Sheffield features 42 prominent and highly-visible signs providing information on how to use the car park responsibly.
“There has been investment in modern consumer-facing systems which has enhanced accessibility and made parking at the site easier and safer for both staff and the general public. The ANPR system is designed to ensure the efficiency and smooth operation of the centre, prevent parking abuse and long-stay parking, ensuring that spaces are available for everyone visiting it.
“The motorist correctly received a parking charge due to making an insufficient payment for their stay while also being over the provided grace period, resulting in overstaying. Payment options were available to extend the parking session if additional time had been required.
“They have unsuccessfully appealed to POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals), and the case has been further escalated to DCBLegal as the parking charge remained outstanding.
“Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charge. If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing to Parkingeye.”
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