Advertiser helps Newark woman win £160 KFC carparking case after mix-up before Lost Village Festival

A woman has had her parking charge cancelled and will get an apology from KFC after the Advertiser intervened on her behalf.

Rachael Williams was fined £160 after a trip to KFC, with carpark monitoring company UKPC claiming that she had parked in the restaurant carpark during the restricted no parking period.

After her details were passed on to a debt collection agency, Rachael reluctantly paid the fine despite not breaking the ‘parking contract’ and is still waiting for her money back and an apology.

Rachael was on her way to the Lost Village Festival earlier this year when she and some friends decided to get some food from the KFC on Lincoln Road, Newark.

Rachael parked her vehicle in the carpark at 10.16am.

She said: “We were surprised that KFC wasn’t open, but a sign on their door showed that they opened at 10.30am so we decided to wait.

“When they still hadn’t opened at 10.54am we gave up and left.”

A few days later Rachael received a parking charge notice in the post from UKPC, who manage the carpark through ANPR cameras.

The notice claimed that she had parked in the carpark during the restricted period of 12am to 10.30am.

Using their internal procedure Rachael appealed the notice, but this was rejected on the grounds that she had broken their parking contract, which is displayed on signs in the carpark.

Rachael said: “I went back to the carpark to look at the signs; all of the signs say that the no parking period ends at 10am, not 10.30, so I had not broken their contract.”

She added: “I spoke to the manager (of Newark KFC) who said that they always opened at 11am.

“The opening times on the door said 10.30am.”

Meanwhile, UKPC had forwarded Rachael’s name and address, obtained through the DVLA, to the debt collection agency, Debt Recovery Plus, who Rachael said had threatened to take her court if she didn’t pay the £160.

In a last attempt to get justice, Rachael’s father Mark contacted the Advertiser.

A KFC spokesman said: “To keep our carparks running smoothly, many of them do have restrictions in place, which most of the time is okay.

“We have recently changed the opening hours of our Newark restaurant and we’re sorry our signage didn’t reflect that. To make it right, we’ve cancelled the ticket with UKPC and updated our signs, so this doesn’t happen again.”