Man wins appeal after Horizon Parking penalty charge in York

John Pawson was given the £85 charge, reducing to £50 if paid within two weeks, after being 20 minutes over the two-hour limit while parking in a disabled space at the Foss Islands Retail Park.

The 68-year-old is disabled and has a blue badge. He told The Press that signs at the car park do not specify if there is a concession that allows blue badge holders to stay for longer.

John Pawson with his paperwork from the parking appeal which was successful (Image: John Pawson) In car parks elsewhere, the retired police sergeant, who worked in the force’s road traffic department for a number of years, said blue badge holders can stay for up to three hours.

And, as the signs did not say otherwise, he thought this was the case at the Foss Islands Retail Park car park.

But a spokesperson for Horizon Parking, which manages the car park, told The Press they “believe sufficient signage is installed at the appropriate location for blue badge bays within the car park”.

A parking sign at Foss Island Retail Park (Image: Newsquest) Mr Pawson, from Harrogate, said he visits the retail park regularly with his wife Veronica, 69, to shop at B&M.

On Monday, July 15, they parked there while shopping at the store then visited the Starbucks café on site.

One of the disabled parking spaces at Foss Island Retail Park (Image: Newsquest) Mr Pawson’s car was pictured by an ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) camera leaving the car park at 4.40pm – about 20 minutes over the two-hour limit.

He said he received the penalty charge notice from Horizon Parking a month later, telling him he was in breach of contract for overstaying his visit at the car park.

Mr Pawson appealed the penalty charge via Horizon Parking’s website and sent a letter to the company by post as he did not agree with this.

Foss Island Retail Park (Image: Newsquest) He said signs should have recognised that there is no concession for blue badge holders when parking in the car park.

But Horizon Parking rejected the appeal.

Mr Pawson said the company told him he should have known he could only park his vehicle for two hours and it was not necessary to have signs informing that there is no exception for blue badge holders

He appealed to POPLA – an independent appeals service for parking charge notices issued on private land – after Horizon Parking rejected the appeal. 

POPLA accepted this appeal on Wednesday, October 23.

No signs surrounding disabled parking areas that make terms clear, says POPLA 

A letter from POPLA, which has been seen by The Press, states: “The appellant [Mr Pawson] has provided several images of the parking area, and it is clear from these images that there are not signs surrounding the disabled parking areas, to bring the terms of parking to a disabled motorists attention.

“As such, I cannot agree that the operator [Horizon Parking] has adequately rebutted the grounds raised by the appellant, nor can I conclude that they were able to sufficiently read the terms from their vehicle, to allow them to make an informed decision as to whether they wished to stay or go.”

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Mr Pawson said he was “pleased” that the appeal was successful but admitted that the process was stressful.

“It’s always at the back of your mind,” he said.

Mr Pawson issued this message to Horizon Parking: “Please sort your signage out and if it arises again please check that your signage is correct.”

The Horizon Parking spokesperson said: “We believe the signage at the site was and remains compliant with the British Parking Association Code of Practice and we believe sufficient signage is installed at the appropriate location for blue badge bays within the car park, however there were no images of this available for the POPLA assessor to review at the time of the assessment.”

When asked by The Press if signs at the car park would be changed, they said: “We remain of the view that our car parks are compliant with the BPA [British Parking Association] code of practice however we are always happy to consider and make improvements for customers when required.”