Bob Wheeler, from Benfleet, headed to Canvey Retail Park on December 23 to take advantage of early-hours Christmas shopping.
But now, he has been slapped with a £100 fine after arriving at the car park 5.49am … 11 minutes before the car park technically opens.
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The car park is free to use for shoppers but is only open during shopping hours and Mr Wheeler was therefore deemed to have breached Euro Car Park’s rules.
Dashcam – Photos shows other vehicles in the closed car park (Image: Bob Wheeler)Mr Wheeler claims the car park was packed with other cars all ready to rush into the shops at 6am, and fears a number of other customers could have also been hit by fines.
“Costa Coffee was open, Morrisons was open, M&S was open, and Food Warehouse was open,” said Mr Wheeler.
“I thought it would be a good time to get my Christmas food shop done, and as all of the other shops were open, and plenty of people parked, I assumed I was fine to do the same.
“There was no barrier, no signs, or anything to say that the car park was not open. This fine is very unfair.”
Fined – Mr Wheeler received his notice in early January (Image: Bob Wheeler)Mr Wheeler believes that the other parked vehicles must have also been ticketed, and that there was a lack of communication between Euro Car Parks and the stores at Canvey Retail Park.
He says the uncharitable incident has made him want to boycott in-person shopping in 2025 and believes that predatory car park firms are only driving more and more people to the internet.
“This is why shops are closing down and why more people are choosing to shop online,” said Mr Wheeler.
“You hear so much about how shops are dying and nobody is visiting them anymore, but things like this are the reason why,”
“I won’t be doing any in-person shopping from now on, and certainly won’t be parking in the car park again.”
Euro Car Parks was contacted for comment repeatedly by the Echo but failed to respond before yesterday’s print deadline.