Parking firm apologises over threatening letters sent to Meadowhall staff 'in error'

Workers past and present at the Sheffield shopping centre have received debt recovery letters out of the blue this month telling them to stump up £150 apiece for fines issued in 2017 or face court action.

Some employees were shocked to receive as many 20 of the letters – sent by DCBL on behalf of CP Plus, which used to manage the car parks at Meadowhall – leaving them facing a total bill of up to £3,000.

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Meadowhall last week apologised for the concern caused by the letters and said they were sent due to a mistake by CP Plus, which would be contacting all recipients to assure them no payment was required.

CP Plus has now apologised itself and said all those who were sent one of the demands should receive a letter apologising for the error within the next fortnight.

A spokesman for the firm said: “These letters were sent due to a technical error, and we’re very apologetic for any inconvenience caused.

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"Everybody will be receiving a letter telling them to please ignore the original letter.”

He added that anybody who had already paid would be reimbursed but said he didn’t believe anybody had paid since it should not have been possible to do so.

Employees had contested the fines back in 2017, claiming that there were no time limits on the customer car park at the time and the staff car park was poorly lit, unsafe and unmanned, with users having to walk a considerable distance to their workplace.

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One worker told how she was concerned that CP Plus still had her details all these years later and had passed them to another company to chase payment.

Complaints about the staff car park have not gone away since 2017, with a petition launched only last month calling for staff to be allowed to park closer to the entrance.

Meadowhall has defended the state of the free staff parking it provides and insisted customer spaces must be reserved for shoppers.