Motorists receive car parking fines after drive-through coronavirus test
A car parking operator has handed out fines to motorists while they were getting a drive-through coronavirus test, it has emerged.
Highview Parking has allowed its car park in Edmonton Green Shopping Centre, Enfield, to be repurposed as one of the Government’s coronavirus testing centres staffed by the British Army in the lockdown.
But unsuspecting drivers who turned up for a scheduled Covid-19 test have received penalty charge notices (PCNs) for failing to pay to use the car park while NHS staff took throat and mouth swabs.
One driver, who said he and his family were “doing our civic duty” by getting tested after showing symptoms for Covid-19, received a £90 fine one week later.
Geoff Pugh, a photographer from Stoke Newington, east London, criticised the “outrageous” decision to penalise him for taking his wife and two young children to get tested, pointing out that he did not even get out of his vehicle as instructed by the testing centre staff.
“It was incredibly irritating to get the fine through the post,” Mr Pugh told the Telegraph. “It is outrageous to fine people for going to get a coronavirus test.
“We were there doing our civic duty, getting a test because someone in our household had symptoms and we didn’t want to spread the virus. We were not there for pleasure.
“My mind was on making sure the family was okay - my children were worried about whether it was going to hurt - not on paying for the parking.”
Mr Pugh, 52, visited the car park on July 7 after booking a slot for him, his wife and his two children aged nine and 11 on the Government website. He was in the car park for a total of 23 minutes.
This week he received a letter from Highview Parking stating there was no “evidence that a sufficient parking payment was made for this vehicle to cover the full duration of the visit”.
The letter says that if Mr Pugh - who is appealing the fine - fails to pay the PCN within 28 days, the cost increases to £130.
The Edmonton Green car park uses automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to detect cars passing by the cameras situated at the entrance and exit of the car park.
A spokesman for Highview Parking confirmed that multiple PCNs were sent out on July 7 when the car park was being used as a coronavirus testing centre.
The spokesman added: “We have been asked to suspend enforcement activity on specific days and times where they have agreed to provide space for COVID testing. However the car park is still being used for retail during this time.
“As these are specific dates, we rely on notification of those dates in advance. The July 7 was an occasion where we were only notified that the site had been used for Covid-19 testing more than a week later and PCNs were already issued.
“We will cancel any PCNs that have been issued to visitors incorrectly on this or any other specified date where testing is taking place.
“All affected motorists will be contacted.”
