Margate dad issued parking penalty at Tesco Extra – despite not being parked at all – finally gets fine struck out

A Margate dad who was issued a fine for overstaying the limit in the Tesco Extra car park, despite not being parked at all, has had the penalty struck out.

John Horton did not use the car park but was captured on Horizon Parking’s camera driving on the road that cuts past the Tesco Extra store towards the Margate Road roundabout at one end and the Westwood Road roundabouts the other side.

The former train driver travelled on the cut through twice on October 30. The first journey was on the way back from booking a table at Toby Carvery and then later returning to eat at the venue with his two sons. The meal was to toast the memory of John’s mum Anne, whose funeral the family attended that day.

John says he was stunned to receiving the parking penalty as he had been at his mum’s funeral and not shopping in Tesco.

He said: “At first I thought my car had been cloned, I didn’t recognise where the car was captured, and told them so, also saying I never parked.

“I went to see Tesco customer services the night I got the letter and they explained where the picture had been taken.

“I had thought my car reg was cloned but it wasn’t. It had been a bad day as it was mum’s funeral so I was rather confused until my son Jamie remembered we used the cut through road from Margate Road, past Tesco garage and out to Westwood Road, as do hundreds of others.

“They said I should’ve read the notices when I parked – but I didn’t park anywhere at all that night, certainly not in Tesco car park.

“I came in off the roundabout by Hortons, on the way back from booking a table at Toby Carvery later that evening to remember mum and toast her memory. I drove through down to Westwood Road and turned right off to Asda. Later that night I came back off Westwood Road end, along the snake bends, through to the Hortons roundabout and off to Toby Carvery.”

John appealed the parking penalty but this was rejected by Horizon. However, John was determined not to pay for a fine issued in error.

He said: “Their picture only shows me coming off the roundabout, leading to the garage and side roads off to the parking at Tesco. But I was not parked and I wasn’t in the car park, I was on the side road. In the evening the picture again shows me at the roundabout, there is no picture showing my car is parked – because I didn’t park – their camera at the other end is obviously not recording cars coming in or going out.”

In response to Horizon’s rejection of his appeal he sent them a further letter, pointing out their cameras capture the road and not the car park. He also sent a map of the road layout, showing his route and highlighting where the cameras are located.

He told Horizon: “The parking violation claim is refuted in its entirety, the cameras have not captured me parking, nor captured my vehicle in a parked position , nor has it captured me entering the car park of Tesco Extra, because it simply didn’t happen.”

He added: “The positioning of the cameras of Horizon Parking certainly raises serious doubts as to the validity of any claim they may make against motorists at this location, as their cameras record vehicles exiting/entering a roundabout to/from a main road, they do not cover the Tesco Extra car parks themselves.”

John says he challenged Horizon to take him to court where he would present his evidence.

Horizon has since cancelled the parking charge.

John said: “My concern was that the cameras don’t cover the car park but capture motorists on the road, which aren’t parked, so the issuing of a ticket for alleged parking is invalid, the cameras do not capture parked vehicles.

“That road is a short cut for hundreds of residents every day so I want to warn other motorists and urge them to challenge any notice they receive and to make sure they have lots of evidence.

“It cost me £10 in photos but I showed they were out of their jurisdiction.”

A Horizon Parking spokesperson said: “Whilst we cannot discuss individual Parking Charges without the authorisation of the recipient we can confirm that on rare occasions captures of vehicles can be missed for a variety of reasons.

“Should this occur we encourage motorists to appeal directly to us and we are always willing to investigate.”