Great Western Coffee Shop

Fines suspended at 'confusing' Bristol car park

A firm has suspended its parking fines at a Bristol car park because the rules are too confusing for customers.

Spaces marked in yellow outside the Roo Bar sandwiched between Whiteladies Road and St John's Road in Clifton are governed by Local Parking Security Ltd (LPS). Spaces marked in white for those wishing to use Clifton Down train station are covered by firm APCOA on behalf of First Great Western. Spaces by the Whiteladies Road entrance to the site are owned by Bristol University and are for use by staff only.

Customers parked in white spaces regulated by APCOA can pay for their parking over the phone but those parked in yellow spaces owned by LPS must pay at the machine. But there are no signs explaining the colour-coding. Customers have also fallen foul because they have rung up to pay for parking instead of paying at the machine.

Environmental consultant Les Gornall, 59, was given with a ^50 fine after parking in a LPS space but paying on the phone. "To the ordinary person visiting Clifton, the set up here is completely baffling," Mr Gornall said. "If you do what you are meant to do and obey the signs and be a good citizen, you get done. It is not clear at all. You are directed to pay for a ticket and when you arrive at the platform you are told you can pay by phone. The actual pay point is around the front of the pub but you can't even see it when you walk down to the platform. There is also absolutely no indication that car parking spaces are owned by different companies. It could so easily be rectified by clear sign posting."

Richard Evans, director of LPS, which has run spaces at the site for six months, said he would refund the ticket after seeing the text payment confirmation Mr Gornall received and was suspending fines so he could visit the site. "We try to make things as clear as possible," he said. "At the moment I am looking at the site. I don't want us going through the site putting tickets on cars because it is not clear, so I have put them on hold. Anybody who appeals and it is clear it was a genuine mistake will be refunded. We are not here to penalise people who have paid in good faith. We have put signs up but I would concede that it is not clear enough. We apologise if there is any confusion ^ it is not what we attended. I hope to work with the other bodies at the site to see if there is a solution that works for everybody."

A spokesman for First Great Western said: "This is the first we have heard of any problems over car parking at the station and we are sorry to hear that some customers are having problems. We are more than willing to work alongside LPS to address any issues motorists may be experiencing."