A driver collecting a coffee from a Starbucks drive-thru near Stansted Airport was fined £100 after failing to register their car registration on an iPad inside the store. The customer, who stopped at the Southgate Park retail park, was told by staff there was 60 minutes of free parking and spent only 16 minutes on the site.
Upon receiving the fine from MET Parking Services, the customer contacted Starbucks, which explained that drivers must enter their car registration on an iPad in the store. However, no iPad was available at the drive-thru kiosk, and staff had not mentioned the requirement.
Online forums show that many other drivers have faced similar fines at the same location, which has been described as one of Britain's trickiest parking traps. The Guardian first highlighted the opaque rules in 2018, and the enforcement firm MET Parking Services continues to generate revenue from the site.
Signs at the car park state that parking is for customers only, but the detailed terms and conditions are on separate notices with font that is illegible through a windscreen. The rules divide the lot into two sections for Starbucks and McDonald's, requiring drivers to park in the correct bays and register their vehicles within the correct restaurant.
Starbucks said it has no control over parking charges and referred the customer to MET. The company did not respond to questions about why drive-thru customers are not automatically informed of the registration requirement or provided with an iPad. MET also failed to respond to inquiries about the clarity of signs and the amount collected from fines.
The fine was eventually cancelled by MET, possibly due to the prospect of media coverage. However, the case highlights the potential unenforceability of such fines, as parking companies cannot prove who was driving, and keeper liability does not apply to land under statutory control, such as airports.
