Complaints over fines at Scarborough borough car park - company defends its methods

Civil Enforcement Ltd, which oversees the car park at 16 Station Avenue, says the site’s owner has not had anyone get in touch with complaints about the way it is being run.

It says 31 fines were issued between October 1 2020 and February 23 2021.

The response comes as several people have been claiming on social media that they have received unfair fines from the firm.

One of them, Julie-Marie Whitaker, said she was asked to pay £100 in a letter from Civil Enforcement Ltd.

Drivers can park in the car park for two hours for free but the firm was reporting that she had been parked there for over six hours.

But Julie-Marie said there had been a mistake as she parked there in the afternoon, to visit Heron Foods, then again that evening.

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Her fine was cancelled after she contacted the firm to appeal.

A spokesperson for Civil Enforcement Ltd said: “It should be noted that the car park has been managed by ourselves since 2014 and, having spoken to the owner and our client, they are very happy with the system, the service and have no complaints. They have also not received any complaints.

“Most standard ANPR car park operators issue many, many penalty charge notices per day, but Civil Enforcement operate very lax terms and conditions by comparison to ensure the owner of the land and the business operator is protected, and their customers can park safely and with availability, but that we also protect the community and the businesses brand within the community.

“Therefore, since October 1 2020 we have only issued 31 penalty charge notices from this location, so one every four to five days, and always for drivers that have massively overstayed the permitted allowance.

“We always offer a 40 per cent discount for early payment to assist drivers that have received a penalty charge notice.

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“Maybe one or two have been cancelled by us as a gesture of goodwill which has given the community of other recipients the opinion the system is faulty and theirs should have also been cancelled, but this is not the case.”

The firm said anyone can appeal a fine.

“The best way to appeal is via our website https://appeals.ce-service.co.uk/ because this instantly logs the appeal and freezes the penalty charge notice charge until it is reviewed by the team and responded to,”added the spokesperson.

“Every appeal is investigated by our 30-strong UK-based team, and double checked prior to any decision being made.”