Resident raises concerns on hefty parking fines at Junction Nine

Large shopping complex Junction Nine Retail Park on Winwick Road has come under fire recently by one resident after she was issued a £100 fine despite being a paying customer.

Heather Wildman was a frequent visitor to the retail complex up until an incident in the summer which has led to her travelling further afield to spend her hard-earned pennies.

The resident told the Warrington Guardian how she went to Junction Nine with her family in July to visit the TUI travel agents, with hopes of booking a holiday.

“We didn’t know where we wanted to go so after waiting for a consultant and narrowing down destinations we left to get a snack at KFC,” she explained.

“We returned to TUI and waited again to see a consultant and made the booking. We were issued with a penalty notice.”

Heather was slapped with a £100 parking fine, having left the retail park and returned a short time later.

Operators, Smart Parking Ltd brought a new four-hour free parking limit policy onto the site back in April 2018, initially adding a clause that meant shoppers would not be allowed to return to the retail park within two hours.

However, this was met controversy and a month later the operators discarded the two hour no returns but kept the main policy, being that visitors could stay at the retail park for four hours for free but if they exceeded this time a fine would be issued.

Smart Parking stated at the time that the reason this limit was brought into place was to ‘prevent abuse of the parking facilities to ensure that genuine users of the park are catered for’.

Junction Nine Retail Park (Image: NQ)

But regular shopper Heather feels the threat of expensive parking fines could drive customers out of Warrington and towards shopping facilities like the Trafford Centre where parking is unlimited and free and you can come and go as you please.

“I tried to appeal the fine, although it has been made more difficult because my car is a company car and the car letting company pay the fines as soon as they receive them.

“I got a response saying I needed to appeal it online, so I have done this, and I am waiting for a response.”

Explaining why she chose to appeal the fine, she added: “I am appealing the ticket as it was genuine parking, we went to book a holiday and after short listing where we wanted to go, we went for a snack as we were hungry and then back to book, where we had to wait for a consultant.”

She highlighted the impact the parking operation could have on the town, saying: “I have involved our local councillor Stuart Mann, as I feel it could have a real negative impact on the town.

“People will drive to Trafford where there are no parking charges and this could lead to shop closures and loss of jobs in our town.”

The resident recalled how her friend had been to drop her dog off to be groomed at the retail park, left and returned to collect their pet and was also issued a fine.

“I live in Warrington and did use the retail park regularly; it has made me think about shopping there though now.”

Smart Parking Ltd addressed the appeal raised by Heather, stating that the resident had ‘stayed for nearly four and a half hours’ and so was ‘correctly issued a charge’, despite Heather stating she had left the park and then returned.

A spokesperson said: “Smart Parking was brought into manage the Junction 9 Retail Park car park order to address parking abuse and to ensure visitors can always find somewhere to park. To do this we operate a state-of-the-art ANPR parking management system that monitors cars entering and exiting.

“There are numerous signs across the car park that clearly set out the terms and conditions of use, one of which is that the maximum stay at the car park is four hours. In this particular case the motorist stayed for nearly four and a half hours so was correctly issued a charge.”

Warrington Borough Council were contacted but declined to comment on the issue.