A DRIVER had his £100 fine cancelled at Cockhedge Shopping Centre after winning an appeal against Parking Eye which operates the car park.

A number of motorists threatened to boycott the centre after they were hit with £100 fines following the installation of an automatic number plate recognition system in November.

Great Sankey resident Graham Perry, who was fined after doing his Christmas shopping at the centre on December 20, has successfully appealed his case with Parking on Private Land Appeals on the grounds that Parking Eye's authorisation to manage the car park had not been properly registered at POPLA, the regulator.

He said: “I was infuriated because I parked there on a Sunday and normally parking in that car park on a Sunday was always free – the barriers were in the up position and I thought it was free parking as usual.

“I went in and did my Christmas shopping and was there for about three hours but on January 4 I found out I’d been fined."

A spokesman for Parking Eye said that authorisation had been given for them to operate Cockhedge’s car park in September but this had not been made clear to POPLA in Mr Perry’s case, leading to him winning his appeal.

They said: “Parking Eye was issued a letter of authorisation to offer car park management services at Cockhedge Shopping Centre in September 2015 – two months before the system went live in November.

“In this case the driver received a parking charge because he stayed in the car park for longer than the free parking limit – POPLA was not in possession of the letter of authorisation when the driver appealed and was therefore unaware that Parking Eye had the authority to carry out car park management services on the site.”

George Wesson, manager of Cockhedge Shopping Centre, said: “Since September last year Parking Eye has had full authority to carry out car park management services on the site.

“Parking Eye were granted authority for car parking management as part of a positive initiative that will create free parking spaces for more than one million extra shoppers a year in the heart of Warrington town centre.

“The overwhelming majority of retailers support free parking at Cockhedge Shopping Centre, as do our shoppers – evidenced by the fact that the number of motorists using our car park increased by eight per cent between February and March.”