CALLS are being made for a crackdown on parking firms following claims motorists in Pwllheli are being targeted.

MP Liz Saville Roberts has vowed to tackle parking regulators after Viv Williams, of Flintshire, contacted her after she was slapped with a £50 fine after she parked in Home Bargains car park in Pwllheli during the evening whilst she attended a concert at nearby Capel y Drindod.

Viv, who said she has parked in the car park on several occasions before with no fines, said she was shocked to receive a letter from Parking Eye Ltd which informed her that she had incurred the fine.

She said: “We have parked there before for similar events and never received a fine.

"I never saw any signs to pay for a ticket, we just assumed it was ok to park there as we have done before. The store was closed and there were quite a lot of other cars parked there.

“A few days later I received the letter which had a very aggressive tone and informed me they will pursue me if I don’t pay the £85 fine, reduced to £50 if we pay in 28 days.

“I absolutely love Pwllheli, but I am concerned that a town which is a tourist destination is letting these companies loose on the local population and the visitors. It will put people off visiting.

“I understand that the store wants to protect its car park for customers, but the place was closed so there was no loss of income for them!

“I found the letter from ParkingEye very unpleasant.”

Mrs Saville Roberts said she was pursuing the issue with both ParkingEye Ltd and Home Bargains.

She said: “Whilst I appreciate that stores need to guard against misuse of their parking, it is incomprehensible that people are penalised for parking in a safe and sensible location when the store is closed, and, indeed, outside the busy visitor season.

“Such a heavy-handed approach is counterproductive; we need to be encouraging people to our town centres to boost our local economies.

“What may be deemed as appropriate measures in a busy, urban environment cannot be applied to rural areas. A certain amount of fairness and proportionality is required.

“Large retail chains should be mindful of the impact these fines are having on the public or risk jeopardising the good will of customers.”

A ParkingEye spokesperson said: “Car park users enter into a contract to use the car park in line with the terms and conditions stated on the signage at the site.

"The signage at Pwllheli Home Bargains states that there is no parking outside of store opening hours. In this case the motorist stayed for more than three hours after 6pm when the store was closed, and so was issued with a charge.

"We operate an audited appeals process and encourage people to appeal if they feel there are mitigating circumstances. To date we have not received an appeal against this parking charge.”