A group of eight motorcyclists from Devon are facing parking fines totalling £960 after stopping twice at a lake in Snowdonia to buy ice cream.
The riders visited Llyn Tegid in Bala, within Eryri National Park, where solar-powered automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras have been installed to stop overnight camping. Each rider now expects two £60 penalty notices, a total of £120 each.
'A bitter taste in our mouths'
One of the bikers wrote on a local message board: “I’ve been visiting Llyn Tegid for many years from my home in Devon. This year I brought seven friends with me on motorcycles to introduce them to this beautiful area.”
“We stopped here twice to buy an ice-cream from the lovely lady in the ice cream van – this is something I’ve been doing for getting on for 10 years.”
“As we visited twice, we are all expecting £120 each in fines...for apparently missing £2 in parking fees! None of us remembers seeing any new signage in that motorcycle area. We would of course have paid the measly £1 charge if we had been made aware of it. Sadly, it has put a bitter taste in our mouths after visiting your beautiful countryside.”
Parking changes and petition
The car parks at Llyn Tegid now charge £5 for up to four hours and £8 for a full day, with motorcyclists asked to pay £1. Separate tariffs apply to watersports users, while Blue Badge holders get double the standard time allowance. The car parks are closed from midnight to 2am each day.
The changes came as Bala grapples with over-tourism, with chaotic scenes on local roads in recent summers. As part of the overhaul, capacity was boosted at the two car parks, fees were hiked and solar-powered ANPR cameras were installed.
A petition has been started with Eryri National Park Authority (ENPA) demanding free access, and other motorists have complained of receiving fines after visiting on July 12, the day before the ANPR cameras were activated. Bala residents also launched a letter-writing campaign, arguing the lake has “belonged to this community for generations”. They had previously campaigned for tighter restrictions due to lakeside littering, noise and illicit camping, but the subsequent changes have now spurred their protests.
Residents were offered a free hour of off-peak parking as a “local benefit”, but only between 2am and 8am or 5.30pm and midnight. Petitioner Elin Pritchard said: “That’s not a meaningful concession for anyone trying to visit after work, at the weekend, or with children, it’s a token window designed to let you say one exists.” She also argued that a charge like this discourages people, especially children, from spending time outdoors.
Pritchard criticised the enforcement model, saying: "This scheme is being managed on the authority’s behalf by Initial Parking, a private company. Whatever the safeguards, the practical effect for residents is that access to a public lake is now gated by a private firm whose income depends on charges and penalty notices being issued."
Authority defends pilot
Within six days, the petition had gathered 534 signatures, more than a quarter of Bala's population. ENPA's director of corporate services, Bethan Wyn Hughes, said the pilot would run until the end of the October half-term, with the ANPR system remaining operational afterwards and changes possible.
Hughes said: “The purpose of the pilot is to gather evidence of the effectiveness of ANPR of dealing with both overnight camping and general non-payment of parking fees.”
“The findings from the pilot, including operational ANPR data, resident feedback, community council views and other relevant information, will be evaluated as part of the overall review, and will help inform any future decisions. It would be premature at this stage to speculate on what conclusions may be reached or what changes, if any, may result from that process.”
ENPA said the pilot was introduced to manage car parks more effectively and ensure correct charges are paid, while aiming to improve the visitor experience and contribute to site maintenance. Overnight parking bans at nine other Eryri car parks were paused in June following a public backlash, but retained at the Bala facilities as part of the trial.
