£100 fine for using Stop24 services

A visitor to Shepway from Huntingdon got an unpleasant surprise when stopping for a break at the M20 J11 Stop24 services in July when he got home: a £100 fine for parking at the services!

Due to height restrictions at the entrance to the main parking area, the visitor parked his car and caravan in a lorry space at the services, and received the fine demand - pursued by a solicitors letter - on his return home.

Following contact with the owners of Stop24, the fine has now been cancelled, but there is ongoing concern at the policy of Stop24 services towards caravan users. The visitor contacted local Councillor Tim Prater, who commented:

"Stop24 seems to need all the business it can get at this time, so to actively put off users in this way seems ludicrous. With units such as Muffinbreak and EAT having closed their units, they need to be encouraging visitors, not fining them!

"I hope Stop24 will take steps as soon as possible to make it clear where customers with caravans can park at their services without fear of fines. I'm pleased they have acted swiftly to cancel the fine in this case - in future I hope they don't issue such fines at all without good reason.

"I would also like them to look at actively encouraging other users such as lorry drivers to use their facilities, perhaps by offering free or low cost lorry parking at least for a trial period. Kent has a huge problem with lorry parking on residential roads: cheap parking at Stop24 could encourage them to stop there and use the facilities at the service station which will benefit the traders there."