Woman forced to pay ₹2 lakh as fine for taking more than 5 minutes to pay parking fee

A woman in Derby received parking fines totaling £1,906 after struggling to pay within five minutes due to signal problems.

A woman in UK has been charged ₹2 lakh (£1,906) after she took longer than five minutes to pay after parking her car in Derby. Rosey Hudson claimed she was unable to pay due to poor signal on her phone.

The car park said that anyone who parks in the lot has to pay within five minutes.(Representational)

She said she had to walk around to get to a serviceable area but by then Excel Parking Ltd had sent her 10 parking charge notices. The car park said that anyone who parks in the lot has to pay within five minutes.

‘Was trying to get phone reception’

Hudson said the five-minute payment rule is "totally unreasonable"."I haven't got children but I can imagine a busy mum trying to sort her kids out, trying to pay for something when there's no signal here, and the machine being out of order," she told the BBC.

Hudson said she started using the Copeland Street car park in February 2023 and when she tried to pay the parking machine was "out of order", so she tried to pay using a phone app. "I was trying to get reception and wasn't able to, so I got my wi-fi within the store, and paid online through their app," she said.

She did the same thing each day and paid the full parking fee daily but one day she received a notice. It asked her to pay £100 within 28 days. "I rang the company and explained the situation, and they basically said 'you have to pay it. So to keep them off my back I did pay the initial parking fine," she said.

‘It is the driver’s responsibility'

However, she received nine more notices like that which were all for £100 along with a "debt recovery" charge and an interest of 8% per annum.

In a statement, an Excel Parking spokesperson said: "The signage at the car park made it clear that it was 'Pay on Entry' and that there was a maximum period of five minutes to purchase the parking tariff. This is one of the specific terms and conditions for use of the car park. It is the driver's responsibility to read and understand the terms. It seems that Miss Hudson is the author of her own misfortune."

When asked why they ask drivers to pay within five minutes, and the company said this was "to mitigate against abuse from motorists who simply use the car park to drop off and pick up passengers from adjacent retailers".

The parking also claimed the woman took "between 14 and 190 minutes to purchase each parking tariff by phone, an average of almost one hour". The case will now be heard in court within six months.