AN 82-year-old man has been handed a £300 demand after being caught out three times by controversial changes at a Saltaire car park.

Joe Cullen has received seven letters for three parking fines, of £100 each, from Birmingham-based Smart Parking for using the Oastler Road car park.

Letters for the first two incidents, on June 22 and 23, stated he had parked at the Toscana Retail Park in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland, without getting a ticket.

But on those dates he had actually parked at the Oastler Road car park.

Mr Cullen, of Hilton Drive, Shipley, then received cancellation letters for both of those fines and both were re-issued, again on separate letters, with Saltaire correctly stated.

He then received a further letter for a third incident, dated July 7, at the Saltaire site.

Mr Cullen criticised the parking changes and fines.

He said he had put 50p in the car park’s cash machine, which pays for one hour and 20 minutes’ parking, to pay for longer than the initial free 20 minutes. But he said the cash machine did not accept his payment.

He said: “It’s horrible. There’s no way I could pay those fines anyway.

“I have used the car park for 30 years. I have never been to the car park in Northern Ireland.

“This could cause a lot of trouble for me, all of these fines.

“I hadn’t seen the changes to the car park. They should have put up big signs. It’s so silly. I have no intention of paying.”

The car park was taken over by Smart Parking from Bradford Council last month.

When it was Council-run, drivers could park at the site for free for the first 20 minutes. Smart Parking has kept the 20-minute free parking system but drivers must submit their registration number.

A number of drivers have been caught out recently at the car park after not realising they now had to give their registration for the free 20-minute parking. A notice of the change is displayed on signs next to the site’s ticket machine, but many drivers who have been caught out say it is not displayed prominently enough.

The fines are for £100 but are reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.

Shipley MP Philip Davies, who raised the issue in Parliament last week, said: “I have been inundated with people about this issue.”

A spokesman for Smart Parking said: “On each of the three occasions Mr Cullem made use in Oastler Road car park in June and July he failed to follow the terms and conditions. Accordingly he has been charged for these three occasions.

“We encourage all users of our car parks to read and follow the terms and conditions that are put in place in order that everyone has the opportunity to park.

“We are members of the British Parking Association and follow their guidelines; any drivers that feel that a charge is incorrect can make use of our fully audited appeal process.”

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