Hove man's fury after receiving parking fine at Firle Beacon

Simon Howard, 43, parked his car in the Firle Beacon car park and went on a walk with his family last month. 

Days later, he received a £60 fine for staying longer than the three hours he paid for.

Mr Howard, who lives in Hove, said the fine is “unjust”. He appealed the fine but was rejected.

He says families are being “priced out” of the countryside by parking rules. 

Mr Howard's appeal of the fine was rejected (Image: Simon Howard)

He said: “It’s about £2 to park there. There’s no barrier, it’s not clear there are cameras there. 

“It feels very unjust. It has been set up as a trap. 

“I wrote to my MP and I wrote to the British Parking Association. 

“I got a nice response from Peter Kyle, they’re going to look at it. It hits people who are just trying to get out and enjoy nature. 

“It was two families, we were all having a lovely time. 

“We got there and then took five to ten minutes to get the kids’ boots on. 

Mr Howard was out with his family when he received the fine (Image: Simon Howard)

“Then when we got back we spent ten minutes getting the kids in the car. 

“If there had been a traffic warden they would have seen we were getting ready to go.

“The park should encourage families and walkers to enjoy the countryside, not discourage them with disproportionate and misleading fines.”

Mr Howard has paid the fine, however he is speaking out to protest against the nature of the fines. 

The fine was issued by Initial Parking, who said Mr Howard stayed 27 minutes longer than he had paid for. 

A spokesman said: “The car park in question is private land. 

“In the event you overstay the initial period of parking time purchased, additional time can be purchased at any point prior to your vehicle exiting the car park. 

“Additional time can be purchased via the payment machines or the pay by mobile service, this is stated on the signage within the car park.

“On this occasion we can see that the motorist paid for three hours parking time but stayed an additional 27 minutes and ten seconds without payment. Therefore, the parking charge notice was correctly issued.

“The motorist was given the option to appeal further with POPLA, the independent appeals service, in the event they were unhappy with their appeal outcome. 

“This is a free service in which an independent adjudicator will assess the case further. The motorist chose not to submit a further appeal.

“Full payment of the parking charge notice was received on the October 9 and the matter closed on the system.”