£63 cup of tea at BP service station.

[CatOnAMushroom]

Just returned from (what was suppposed to be a cheap camping) holiday to a £60 fine for parking at a BP petrol station for 49 minutes for a break on a long journey in torrential rain.

I always check when parking in car parks, on roads etc but I never thought to check for parking rules at a petrol station ☹️

If anyone is going on holiday this week don't overstay your welcome at a BP service station

I think you can pay the fine (to get the reduced amount if you pay early) and then appeal and if you win the appeal it will be refunded to you. I'm not sure though so please check again.

If you pay you're accepting the fine, they won't then refund. You can explicitly pay under protest but you'd need to take them to a small claims court to get it refunded.

Might be worth a post on BP Facebook twitter if they have one and complaining that they are encouraging dangerous driving as you stopped to take a break as driving in torrential rain is pretty exhausting after a while. May or may not work but costs nothing so worth a go?

I have received quite a few parking fines and I always pay them immediately. A few times I appealed (it was just by sending an email to explain the situation) and then the parking fine was refunded to my account. Once they even sent me parking vouchers so I could park there legally. However, this was with my local council so I'm not sure if it applies in general.

Councils are different as far as I'm aware. They're penalty charge notices, not parking charge notices which are private companies, such as this. They have different rules.

I just noticed a sign this week at our local BP service station saying there was a 1/2hr limit that I’d never seen before so I think this must be a very new policy. It’s a garage I pop into often as it has a small supermarket. It would be easy to overstay if you do a small shop and drink a hot drink. I’m unsure how that’s going to work for the car wash as you’d be on the forecourt for more than 1/2 hr queuing for that. Unclear whether the cameras are as you drive on and off the forecourt or on the parking spaces.

I would be tempted to phone or email the garage and ask if this is a new time limit and where the signs are. Explain why you overstayed due to weather conditions, medical needs for the bathroom twice, and a hot drink bought from them. Ask if they can overrule the fine. I know our local supermarket with a cafe regularly overturns their car park fines.

So you did know there was a limit you jusr not to abide by it?

Aside that, I'm disappointed. I thought we were in for a thread about somewhere charging that much for tea 🤣

I'm aware that rules apply to all.

I think the answer to your question is in my original post

Not read the whole thread but worth writing to the garage themselves. Our gym gets members' tickets cancelled all the time when they forget to put their reg into machine.

It’s a great heads up op. And a generous one since you already have been fined, with good intentions. Some people here are just grumpy arses, don’t let them put you down. I had a fine like yours years ago, it is not fun.

Update: I appealed the fine and lost. Goodbye £60 and I'll be avoiding BP service stations fir the rest of my days

OP don't give up - that's par for the course. Then you send it to the independent appeal authority and they look at it. Effectively the initial appeal is the parking company marking its own homework. Check the Martin Lewis website, there will be advice on there.

@CatOnAMushroom

Notice must be given within 14 days. If not read the Schedule 4 To Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 [it's online] and if you were outside those times write pointing it out to company. If they say no then when summonsed go to court