Sheffield car park 'baffles' visitor by offering to pay £120 to charity so long as he pays his £60 ticket

Andrew Farr incurred the fine at the Berkeley Centre car park, off Ecclesall Road, on a visit with his wife and daughter in June.

The 50-year-old says he misread the terms and conditions on the board and thought the lot was free up to two hours, when it is only up to one hour.

However, after appealing the ticket, he says the car park’s operators, Vehicle Control Services Ltd [VCS], have come back with a “baffling offer.”

"We maintain that the PCN [penalty charge notice] was lawfully issued and there are no grounds for the cancellation of the charge,” VCS said in a letter to Mr Farr.

"However, as a gesture of goodwill and without prejudice we would like to donate the cost of the PCN £60.00 to a charity of your choice upon receipt of payment. Furthermore we will also match the donation amount ourselves.”

It means the car park will put themselves £60 out of pocket so long as Andrew pays the fine – as opposed to just waiving the fee and losing nothing.

"That does nothing to help a family find £60 to pay during the cost of living crisis in the first place,” Andrew told The Star.

"If I had £60 to donate to charity I would just do it myself.

"Why don’t they just waive the fee if that’s the case? Or charge us the £1 for the extra hour? It’s baffling.

"£60 is a lot these days.

“I will not be paying and plan to appeal it.”

The £60 fee was levelled after Andrew and his family stayed 12 minutes beyond the hour’s free parking at the Berkeley Centre.

VCS has been contacted for a comment.

The car park operators came under fire in 2019 when they revised the number of free hours down from two to one.

Many confused drivers incurred the £60 fee without realising the new rules.

However, when they given summons to court, a judge threw out the charges in many cases after the contract was deemed invalid.