Motorists hit with £100 parking fines at major shopping centre… despite their cars being miles away

DOZENS of shoppers were hit with £100 fines in a bizarre parking blunder… despite their cars being miles away at the time.

Annoyed drivers were hit with parking notices saying their cars stayed in the shopping centre for up to two days – and were forced to use their own photos as proof for appeal.

GoogleMotorists were sent fines saying their cars stayed in a shopping centre car for up to two days[/caption]

Daily Post WalesFortunately, drivers were able to appeal the fines after proving they were no where near the car park[/caption]

A badly-placed automatic camera has been blamed for not catching the registration plates of the shoppers leaving the Mostyn Champneys Retail Park in Llandudno, Wales.

Shoppers faced fines of up to £100 for apparently leaving their cars there for as long as two days in the camera blunder.

A healthcare assistant fumed “they are taking mick” after being accused of arriving at 7.19pm and parking there for 47 hours and 53 minutes.

And a retail worker received a notice informing her she’d apparently parked for more than 48 hours.

She said: “Got scrapped thanks to my Google timeline stating the time I left.

“It’s a regular occurrence at this park!”

One woman had luckily taken a photo of her car on her driveway at the same time it was apparently parked at Mostyn Champneys – with her notice scrapped on appeal.

Another person added: “My daughter had one two weeks ago – luckily she had pictures of her car at her cousin’s house.”

Their case was taken up by Conservative Welsh Senedd member Janet Finch-Saunders who said car park operator CP Plus, part of GroupNexus, recently visited the site after being alerted to potential problems.

It made changes and met up with Ms Finch-Saunders to “ensure the local community was kept abreast of the situation”.

A GroupNexus spokesperson said: “Only last month we became aware of a problem at Mostyn Champneys Retail Park which was investigated by our technical team.

“Following this, we made adjustments to the camera’s alignment and our processes. We continue to monitor the situation.”

Ms Finch-Saunders said: “They mentioned that if a car is too close to the vehicle in front of them, then sometimes it can cause an issue.

“They advised that when drivers are leaving the car park, they should leave the usual driving distance from the car in front so as not to cause the issue.

“Any constituents who have approached me with complaints have been refunded their charges.

“They told me they do their very best to investigate appeals using their cameras.

“Where appropriate, they are quick to waive the parking fine.”

However, GroupNexus were alarmed by social media advice to ignore notices issued incorrectly or otherwise.

A spokesperson said: “If any motorist feels that they have been incorrectly issued with a PCN, we would always encourage them to appeal online as soon as possible.

“Each appeal is looked at on merit and if it is deemed incorrect it will be immediately cancelled.

“However, if no appeal is received, each case remains outstanding and will escalate over time.”

This comes after a warning to millions of drivers over a little-known feature that will fail your MOT and coukd see you slapped with fines.

Elsewhere, an abandoned car dealership has been discovered with a bunch of classic cars from the 80s inside – and all of them are as good as new.

The former Ford showroom in Bavaria, Germany, was left to rot after its owner Josef Stock died in 1994.

Since then, the dealership in the industrial area of Ingolstadt has appeared almost ghostly, with a fleet of more than 300 cars waiting to be sold.