Members of one community say problems with the public car park machines are deterring people from visiting the high street.
Three drivers who have used The Foreman Centre car park in Headcorn have told KentOnline how they are fighting parking penalties, despite having proof of payment, and there could be more.
They say the machines are old and difficult to use and are calling for improvements to encourage people into the village centre.
Property manager Henry Lloyd-Roberts, speaking on behalf of the landlord, says the machines will be examined “urgently” but said they have only been there for a little over three years.
Roger Young, 76, paid £1 when he visited the car park on March 15 as he went to get a coffee with his wife.
He says he keyed in his registration and paid, but the ticket printed without his registration number.
The former transport operator said: “I got back in the car within 42 minutes, well within the time frame, and about two weeks later I got a ticket through from Civil Enforcement Ltd.
“I appealed on the basis that I had purchased a ticket and considered it an error with the machine.”
But his appeal was refused, with the company arguing he had not entered his registration despite agreeing to reduce the fine to £20.
“I went back and explained I had put my number in and paid for the ticket and should they wish to proceed it must go through the court,” he added.
As a result, the original £60 fine increased to £170 and Roger says he has received six “threatening” letters and a further four from a debt collection agency.
The 76-year-old, from Bearsted, said: “If it is a requirement of that company that you must enter your registration number, then it should not allow the ticket to be printed until that field has been completed.”
In response to this, the property manager says he will “urgently” raise this issue with the car park management company but believes these issues are “relatively rare”.
Meanwhile, Gail Randelhoff faced a similar problem when she parked in the car park on September 3.
After keying her details into the machine and displaying the ticket on her dashboard she was shocked to receive a parking penalty a few weeks later.
The 63-year-old said the company provided no evidence that she had miskeyed the number plate, but she decided to pay the fine because it was her daughter’s vehicle.
Gail, who has lived in Headcorn since 2018, said: “Some of the buttons on the machine you have to almost break your finger to get them to work and some of them you touch them very lightly and it puts in two digits – they need new machines, and they need more machines.
“We are paying the price of them not updating the equipment.”
Another visitor, Kathy Willeard, faced a different problem with the ticket machine when she visited on June 26.
She said: “I put money in for two hours which is £1.50 and while the small change stayed in, the 20ps and 50ps, the £1 kept dropping out.
“Eventually it went in and I pressed the green button for the ticket and put it into my car.”
But, when she came back to put some shopping in her vehicle and check how long she had left, she discovered it had only registered £1.30 instead of £1.50.
The 81-year-old, from Tenterden, said: “I left the car park but the £1.30 pro rata covered the time that I’d been there.
“I wrote to CE Ltd and explained matters, but they didn’t want to know and at this point were charging me a £100 fine.”
Her fine has now reached £170 along with threats of bailiff action.
Kathy said: “I’m concerned for Headcorn itself, it’s a lovely village but I think people are put off by the car park and it is affecting trade quite badly.”
Betty Boo’s Café and Coffee House sits directly next to the car park and manager Aisha Dirmauskas says many customers have complained about it.
She said: “It does make the customers leave earlier or come in a bit less.
“I think if the machines were easier to use or if they used a better app, it would definitely help the customers and help us.”
Despite this, Aisha says one benefit is the car park is “quite cheap” compared to others, at £4 a day.
Likewise, business owner Julia Archer who owns Sweet William florist has been aware of problems with the car park but says the landowner has been “very accommodating” by offering an email address to people with a “genuine case to oppose a fine”.
She said: “There has been a lot of negativity towards the car park in Headcorn and that is putting people off coming into the village which is no good for the traders.
“But the landlord has said he will deal with it personally on a case-by-case situation.
“He’s offered three Saturdays free parking in December to boost the trade, so he’s a very reasonable guy and he has the village at heart.”
Speaking on behalf of the landlord, property manager Henry Lloyd-Roberts, says the car park has operated an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system since the summer of 2021 because ticket inspectors were being regularly threatened by a “very small” minority of users.
He added: “We took steps over a year ago to set-up a dedicated email address to raise any concerns – [email protected] – and a number of the shop owners helped to publicise it via the village Facebook page.
“I would urge anyone to use this if they have concerns about the machines or how an appeal is being managed.
“We will always ensure it is raised directly with Creative and if the complaint is valid will ensure that any PCN is cancelled and an apology forthcoming.”
