System restricting Morrisons shoppers to three-hour parking to come before planning chiefs

Customers hit out in January last year after the store, on Greenalls Avenue, introduced measures restricting parking to two hours.

Anybody who failed to comply with the terms and conditions of Parking Eye's system was faced with an £85 fine.

However, due to 'administrative oversight' Morrisons has confirmed planning consent 'had not been sought'.

It is working with the car park management company to resolve the situation.

Parking Eye has applied for the retention of the existing signage at the 650-space site, including signs mounted on lighting columns, signage poles and on the walls of the building.

In the design and access statement it said: "Parking Eye proposes to install a car park management system on an existing car park which utilises automatic number plate recognition cameras and associated signage to monitor the entrance and exit of vehicles within the specified car park.

"The proposal seeks to provide management of the existing car park to reduce car park abuse and ensure that spaces are available for genuine site users.

"The equipment used for the proposed development will be of a standard specification and be as environmentally sensitive as possible in terms of design.

"The scheme has been located on an area of land that is already used for car parking and as such will not significantly impact upon visual or landscape receptors.”

Morrisons has issued a message to customers following the submission of the planning application.

A spokesman said: "We installed the new parking management system to help customers who told us they were finding it difficult to find a space at busy times.

"Due to an administrative oversight planning consent had not been sought for the signage.

"We are now working with Parking Eye to gain the correct permissions and would ask customers to stick to the three-hour parking limit to allow other customers to find spaces."

The application expires on January 11.