A car park which has been free to park for a set number of hours for decades has changed its rules, and people have been caught out already. Prospect Car Park, within Parc Tawe Retail Park in Swansea city centre, towards the rear of the old Staples store, which soon will become Barnardos, once allowed people to park there for three hours without having to pay anything.
Now new signs have been put up to warn that things have changed and a pay and display system has been put in place. Those who do not follow the rules will be charged £100. The Alliance Parking sign which reads: "This is private property. By parking or remaining, you accept the terms of this contract and agree to pay the charges. A parking charge of £100 will be incurred if: Your vehicle is present and a valid ticket is not displayed face-up on the dashboard enabling all the printed information to be inspected, with the exception of those with a valid 'JustPark' session in place.
"If payment for the duration of your vehicle's stay has not been made in full - payment is required immediately upon arrival - the tariff applies from the time of entry until the time of exit. Your full correct registration number must be entered when making payment." You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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It also warns that your vehicle must be parked wholly within a single marked parking bay, adding: "Failure to pay a parking charge in full within 28 days of issue will result in an additional charge of £70." Another sign warns that automatic number plate recognition cameras are in use to log time of entry and exit, and that "it is imperative that you enter your full correct vehicle registration when making payment."
One driver, who did not want to be named, said they had already fallen foul of the new rules and were now fully expecting a fine in the post. "I've always parked there using the free for three hours. To be honest, I just did not notice the signs saying the rules had changed. If you want to just nip into Swansea for an hour or two now, the places where you can do that are getting fewer all the time."
It is not the first time Alliance Parking has stirred up controversy surrounding changes over the parking system at Parc Tawe. In November, 2022, a new parking system was introduced at the south side of Parc Tawe Retail Park, reducing the amount of time people could park there to a two-hour limit, down from four hours. Centurion Tawe Ltd, which operates the retail park, insisted that customers who attended Odeon, Tenpin, Plantasia or one of the restaurants there would be given extended stays. In practice, it would see the venues take customers' registration numbers on their arrival, typed into a computerised system, thereby extending their stay to four hours.
But in many cases, the system failed to work correctly, and people were still receiving fines even though they registered their car. Alliance Parking sent parking fine letters out to customers who claimed they followed the system and provided their car registration details on arrival, starting at £60, rising to £100, then £160. The allotted free parking time was later increased to three hours after a backlash from customers.
Ninja Warrior UK became the newest leisure facility to open up at the retail park on Thursday, July 21, inside part of the old Toys R' Us. It is a 24,000 square foot facility, and just like the popular TV show, it has obstacles to climb, balance, jump and swing across. You can take a first look at the new venue by clicking here.
Alliance Parking has been contacted for comment. You can read more stories about Swansea here.
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