More than £20,000 in parking fines has been written-off after hundreds of north-east motorists were incorrectly issued with tickets.
The charges were handed out to people who had parked near Sainsbury’s in Garthdee, Aberdeen.
But after one Aberdeenshire resident complained to trading standards that they had wrongly been ticketed, an investigation was launched.
Euro Car Parks Ltd, which manages the Sainsbury’s site, issued more than 300 tickets to customers, claiming they had breached the terms and conditions of the site.
But many of the drivers who faced charges had parked on land which Sainsbury’s did not own, and were therefore not subject to the parking restrictions.
Euro Car Parks has now accepted it had no legal right to issue these notices, and will not refund or cancel notices issued.
It comes just two four months after another company, Parking Eye, wrote off £10,000 in fines issues unfairly at a Westhill car park.
A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said last night: “Euro Car Parks Limited, which co-operated fully with the investigation, agreed to continue to work with Trading Standards to ensure the error doesn’t happen again.
“This is the second time the intervention of Aberdeenshire trading standards in respect of parking charge notices has brought about a significant refund to consumers and highlights the importance of the service and diligence of its officers.”
The trading standards team reminded consumers that a parking notice received at a private care park is not a fine, and is “effectively an invoice”.
Parking charges are based on contract law, and drivers must be made aware of the terms and conditions – by adequate signs – before they can be charged.
The company, which also acknowledged that paperwork sent to each customer referred to legislation that does not apply in Scotland, will now refund 64 paid parking charges worth £2,830 and cancel a further 246 outstanding notices worth £17,220.
A spokesman for Euro Car Parks said: “There was an understandable mistake and we’re trying to rectify it.”
A spokesman for Sainsburys said that as the chain did not own the land where the tickets were issued, he would not be commenting.