THE landlords of Launceston Retail Park said it has never been their intention to penalise genuine customers after some people received fines in relation to parking there, writes Amy Dennis.

Some took to social media to say they were not aware of a three-hour time limit for parking at the site, while others have received fines for visiting twice in the same day, with company ParkingEye’s automatic numberplate recognition cameras recording this as one long visit.

Tanya Hebert from Launceston said she ‘couldn’t believe it’ when a letter from ParkingEye came through her door last Friday, after she visited the retail park a week before.

It said she had been parked there for six hours and forty-nine minutes, and that she would need to pay a £60 fine, or £100 if not paid within 14 days.

Tanya said she had visited B&M on November 24 for around one and a half hours before leaving the site and going to work. Later on, after picking her children up from school, she returned to go to Argos.

She said: “It seems like it’s happening a lot. It’s something they need to sort out.”

New additions to the retail park this year have been the B&M store, Peacocks, Ponden Home Interiors, Edinburgh Woollen Mill and more recently M&S Foodhall and Costa.

She added: “I think they need to look at it. With all the new shops, three hours, you can easily spend that up there. People ought to be aware. Some people might have just paid it.

“There was me only praising the place up — I know people have got some negative ideas about new shops. I might not be praising it up so much now!”

A spokesperson for LondonMetric, landlords of the retail park, said: “Since the new shops opened the car park has become extremely busy, and at this time of year we also anticipate higher than average footfall for obvious reasons.

“Therefore, in line with the other parks across the UK we own and manage, we have adopted a three-hour limit at Launceston to encourage a higher turnover of spaces for customers. This should ensure new customers arriving are able to find a space to shop.

“Having said this, it has never been our intention to penalise genuine customers, and we are keen to ensure all our visitors enjoy a safe and pleasant shopping experience.

“With the three-hour limit, there will surely be a ‘settling down’ period, but in the meantime, we will review this lady’s experience with ParkingEye with a view to having the fine rescinded. In particular we will also review the policy of ‘return visits’ within a specific time period, and also the waiting limit itself.”

Liberal Democrat Cornwall Councillor for Launceston South, Jade Farrington, said she wrote to LondonMetric in September ‘to warn them that three hours would not be long enough for some shoppers given that lots of new shops were opening and many people would also want to sit down and have a coffee in the new café’.

She added: “They are a big company, so it may help get the issue on their radar if lots of people contact them at [email protected] or 020 7484 9000 and ask them to extend the length of time people can park.”