Driver charged £50 for spending TWO minutes in car park before realising it was full and driving off
Patrick Barry, 30, was outraged after being fined for trying to leave a parking lot in Portsmouth - despite never having parked there
A DRIVER has been slammed with a £50 parking ticket – while trying to leave a chaotic car park with no free spaces.
Patrick Barry hit back at the “ridiculous” fee after he was held up trying to exit the car park in Portsmouth, Hampshire, by the queue of vehicles ahead of him.
Unable to find a free space, the hairdresser tried to leave the lot - a process which took 12 minutes, 120 seconds longer than the parking rules permitted.
The 30-year-old described the scenes of chaos as the car park failed to accommodate the spike in visitors coming to watch a charity run in the city.
"Inside it was absolute bedlam – there were cars parked outside of bays, cars just abandoned everywhere, there was even a traffic jam inside,” said Mr Barry, who had headed out to go Christmas shopping.
"It was like something out of The Walking Dead - like a scene from an apocalypse movie.
"I knew there was no space from the moment I drove in, so got out as quickly as I could and thought no more of it."
Mr Barry was forced to think about it again, however, when he later received the ticket from the NCP.
"When I opened the letter I couldn't believe what I was reading,” he said.
"I am being forced to pay £50 for the sake of two minutes, on what was one of the busiest days of the year – it's absolutely outrageous.
"That time of 12 minutes is the fastest I could get out of the car park – why they didn't have any contingency plan in place for a busy day is beyond me."
After car parks operator NCP were approached for comment they cancelled the fine – after causing Mr Barry significant distress.
"After taking in to account the fact the car park was very busy on the day in question, we feel there has been an error on our side,” a spokeswoman said.
"We do support city events and take delays into account as a company, but on this occasion, we failed to do so and we apologise for that error."
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