A man who was fined for overstaying his time at a Costa Coffee carpark by 10 minutes has said his life has been “ruined” since receiving the penalty notice. Ashley Pavett left his car outside the popular coffee shop in Green Meadow in Pontyclun, South Wales, longer than the 90-minute limit back in April 2024 and soon received a £60 fine.

Ashley said he was “a bit frustrated” by the fine but paid the total within 14 days thinking that would be the end of the matter. Months later, Ashley’s life was turned upside down after receiving a phone call from his ex-landlord in October telling him he had just received an urgent letter.

It contained a new fine from Parking Eye, a firm which manages carparks at Green Meadow, and a notice that Ashley had been handed a county court judgement (CCJ) against him. A CCJ is issued when a claimant takes court action against a person for money they are allegedly owed.

Wales Online said it caused him “all kinds of issues”. He said at first, Ashley said had no idea was the court order was for and decided to pay the extra fine of £192 and sort out a refund later. Once it was paid, he contacted Parking Eye to get to the bottom of it.

It turned out the parking company has sent further fines to Ashley’s old address believing he had not settled the original fixed penalty notice and proceeded with legal action when it received no response. Ashley said: ” I was £252 out of pocket, which is one thing, but the worst of it was what I’ve suffered with as a result of the CCJ.

“I haven’t been able to rent a property because of it. If I wasn’t honest with my employer about the CCJ and how it came about I could have ended up losing my job. My score on Experian has plummeted by around 500 points. All because of this CCJ which is for a parking fine in April which I paid for properly. I’ve literally done nothing wrong.”

He then took the care to the British Parking Association who, after contacting Parking Eye, wrote to him in January this year saying they had located his original payment made on April 30. He was told the court action had been dropped and he would be refudned the £192 as well as the cost of the original fine he paid as a gesture of goodwill.

He said: “This has affected me so much, it’s really caused chaos in my life. I do feel like I am owed some sort of remuneration [beyond what he’s received this week]. Ultimately I paid that charge. It was their administrative error which caused all this. To be honest the damage they’ve caused me is well beyond £252.”

A Parking Eye spokesperson said the company still had no record of Ashley’s payment. They said: “We provide car park management services at the Costa Coffee in Green Meadow. The car park features prominent and highly visible signs throughout, providing information on how to use the car park responsibly.

“This includes guidance on how all Costa and Green Meadow customers have a 90-minute maximum stay and there is a no return for two hours. The motorist received a parking charge for parking for one hour and 40 minutes. We have no record of the motorist making a successful payment of the parking charge on April 30.

“As the UK’s leading car park management provider, we process a significant volume of payments every year and have robust systems in place for tracking and traceability. It is also worth noting that all correspondence went to the vehicle’s registered address.”

It comes as the government plans a crackdown on “cowboy” parking firms imposing “excessive and unfair” charges on motorists. Ministers are will set out plans to cap charges and debt recovery fees.