ANGRY motorists who claim they are being unfairly fined are planning to picket a Basildon car park with leaflets to stop others falling victim.

Mayor David Dadds has offered to join them tomorrow after a Facebook group was set up for people angry at Westgate Shopping Centre’s parking rules.

The group already has more than 1,500 members with 300 posts angry at Smart Parking fines.

Mr Dadds said: “I suggested to the group about going down on Saturday for about an hour-and-a-half to give out leaflets about what’s going on.

“I want to let people make a choice about parking there. I said to them ‘let’s all come together and give out information’. It is important to inform people about how it is working at the car park.

“There are different procedures in place during different times of the day. People are also charged if they enter the car park and leave without parking there.

“People need to know that others are, in my view, being unfairly charged or not being informed about how it works. I think it is a scheme that is set up to fail sometimes. The consumer will vote with their cars and may decide not to park there. It comes down to economy and if this happens shopkeepers and businesses may also put on the pressure.”

Smart Parking was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.

Palmers Solicitors in Basildon has started to look into cases of inappropriate fines.

Carly Temple, paralegal to Jeremy Sirrell at Palmers Solicitors in Basildon, said: “This is a disgraceful situation because private parking is unregulated with no appeals process set out in legislation and no formal regulator in place to oversee the activities of these firms. This puts drivers in an extremely vulnerable situation.”