Anyone who thinks they have been wrongly fined for overstaying in the Surrey Quays shopping centre should appeal as an investigation underway into a possible equipment fault.
It comes as several more people have told the News that they have been handed nonsensical fines for day-long stays in the car park, despite only living around the corner, after our initial report earlier this month.
Rotherhithe man ‘fined incorrectly’ for 17 hour car park stay – despite living round the corner
One of these people was Mary Weller, who works in a school. Ms Weller was recently handed a penalty charge notice of up to £100 for supposedly staying in the car park for more than nineteen hours one day in November – even though she lives just off Salter Road, a short drive away.
“At first I was a bit like ‘oh my God’,” she said. “If I’d been caught bang to rights I would have paid but I’m not going to.”
Ms Weller appealed the fine to Group Nexus, who operate the shopping centre car park on behalf of owners British Land. Nexus dropped the fine.
The stories raise the question of how many people are being fined incorrectly at Surrey Quays shopping centre. Nexus has launched an investigation into the issue, but it appears that the system may be recording two visits in a 24-hour period as a single, long stay, and fining people accordingly.
The apparent problem has been going back since at least 2019, when the News first reported on the issue. But posts on online forums suggest that people have been complaining about supposedly incorrect fines for several years before this.
A spokesperson for the shopping centre said: “We have raised this with the car park operator and have been assured that a thorough investigation is underway. They will, of course, reimburse anyone who has been wrongly fined, and we can only apologise on their behalf for this issue.”
Group Nexus said: “We continuously monitor the performance of all our technology at every location and look to quickly resolve any issues. In this instance, after further investigation, the PCN in question was cancelled following a successful appeal by Mrs Weller earlier this month.”