Parking fines at a busy Stevenage car park have been labelled a scam by an MP after the issue was debated in Parliament.

The Comet: Roaring Meg Retail Park Parking Restrictions, Monkswood Way, StevenageRoaring Meg Retail Park Parking Restrictions, Monkswood Way, Stevenage (Image: Archant)

Stevenage MP Stephen McPartland raised the issue of football match day parking changes at the Roaring Meg Retail Park and demanded a meeting with ParkingEye which oversees the site.

On match days free parking rules change from three hours to half that time, so that fans planning to watch Stevenage FC at the nearby Lamex Stadium don’t take up spaces.

But Mr McPartland says signs were not in place to show when a game was taking place, leaving drivers confused.

Speaking during a parliamentary debate, he said: “Every week constituents who do not know it is a match day incur large fines.

“When we take those cases up with ParkingEye, which we do on a weekly basis, it says that it puts out boards demonstrating when it is a match day, but it provides no photographic evidence of the boards and nobody has ever seen one.”

Debate leader and Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said “Nothing shocks me about that industry. It sounds to me like a scam.”

ParkingEye denied the accusations and said: “The site management team at Roaring Meg put out 12 extra signs on match days to inform motorists that parking is limited to 90 minutes.

“This is to prevent non-customers using the car park, and is in addition to ParkingEye’s standard signage that also details this match day exception.”