We received this report this week from a local resident.
Shoppers beware! Big Brother is watching out for you at the Chineham Shopping Centre car park. He's not only got his eye on you, he's after your money. £100 of it to be precise. In recent weeks many drivers have received a ticket from a company employed by the centre management to patrol the car park.
The drivers have either parked in a disabled bay or parent-and-child bay without authorisation. Or, and this is where many people seem to have been caught out, they have failed to ensure their vehicle wheels are inside the bay's white lines.
Several days after receiving the ticket, a letter demanding payment of £100 drops on the doormat.
Payment within 14 days reduces the fee - it isn't a fine - to £50.
One Lychpit couple who got clobbered had nipped into the car park while the snow was on the ground. The woman said: "You could hardly see the lines and one of our wheels was just over a line.
"We had only gone into Tesco's on our way home for a packet of bananas.
"We paid the £50 and had done with it, but it was the most expensive half dozen bananas we'ver ever bought." She added: "There are notices in the car park about the rules, but who bothers to read them. People are more concerned about getting in and out of the shops than reading the notice boards."
And if anyone wonders how the company gets hold of names and addresses, they do that by sending the vehicle's number together with a payment of £2.50 to the DVLA.
thisismoney.co.uk website has an interesting article on imposition of penalties in privately owned car parks. It points out that anyone who receives a ticket should, if they wish, refuse to say who was driving the car at the time. Without the name of the driver, the company cannot take the case to the small claims court in order to get its money.