Durham City Retail Park

As per people above they gave me a fictitious charge for a twenty hour stay. It had actually been two stays of an hour on different days but the exit cameras had not picked me up leaving after the first visit. I have appealed and written to durham city mp

2 hours parking for a place that big is just ridiculous and the chance of a £100 fine.

I visited this retail park in preparation of moving to the area. I visited all the big stores looking for a sofa in SCS, a fridge freezer, washing machine and TV in Currys, B&Q for potential garden things. Additional furnishings in Dunelm and B&M. It was then followed up with a KFC ALSO in the car park as I'm diabetic and needed to eat. So to then receive a fine for £100, because you can only park for TWO hours is disgusting. Where is the justification of having such a retail park where you can furnish a FULL house but only if its within 2 hours? Times are tough enough.

My daughter has just been slapped with a £100 fine for parking in the car park near B&Q and B&M for apparently 21 and a half hours from Saturday 16th September 2023 to Sunday 17th September 2023. This is absurd as she lives 5 minutes away from Durham City Retail Park so why on earth would she leave her car there. Totally ridiculous. The cameras have captured her going in there on the Saturday and then again leaving on the Sunday! Conveniently they haven’t captured her leaving on the Saturday after half an hour and returning on the Sunday for half an hour. This is disgraceful and neither myself nor my friends or family will be using that car park again. Avoid going to Durham City Retail Park unless you want to be given a £100 fine for a fictitious stay. The car park is run by Nexus.

Poor signage and no clear warning on entering. Why change from 3.5 to 2hrs when such a large retail park. Shops must really struggle.

Two hours is far too short a limit for a retail park with many shops, one of which includes a cafe. While, having been caught out, I now know that the signs on the lamp posts state the two hour limit, no effort has been made to alert incoming drivers to that limit with clear, large signage near the entrances. Unless you are sure of being in and out of your chosen shop, avoid this place; it's all too easy to accidentally spend more than two hours in shops such as Dunelm, Wren, Dreams and the like. I'll never shop there again.

-100! Never received the “first letter”. I’ve parked here loads of times and never had a ticket previously. Never returning and will make sure family and friends do not either!! So disappointed in Durham for this !!! Say goodbye to the shops as they will get absolutely no customers now and people wonder why internet shopping is more cost effective than shops. Going to appeal as it is not on ! I really feel for families and disabled people being caught in this trap!

There seems to be a theme here £100 parking charge when you exceed their 2hour maximum stay with no option to pay any reduced fine (although the letter states you were offered a reduction for early payment) but no first letter is ever sent. It's impossible to comply with such a tight window if you have any significant business to undertake as has been stated in many of the posts below. Mine was a 2 and a half hour appointment with wren kitchens with a total spend in excess of £13,000. This policy at best appears to be sharp practice and at worst a money making scam. These posts will be the tip of the iceberg with many people not bothering to complain but if this is allowed to continue, as time goes by more and more people will opt for other retail establishments and shops will close. As this is just a money making exercise it is unlikely anyone will even look at these posts let alone put in place common sense rules if your thinking of visiting my advice is don't. Remember there are no parking charges online.

I would give a Minus score if I could! Myself family and friends have visited this retail park regularly for years. I and others were shocked this week to receive a Parking Charge reminder letter demanding a £100 payment as we did not accept their alleged earlier offer to pay a reduced amount!! But None of us have ever received any earlier correspondence from them! And none of us knew or even thought that the time limit could be reduced to just 2 hours! As others on here have said this reduced time limit will have an impact on the retailers and We will definitely not be returning there again. There is something obviously wrong with the Group Nexus system as it is Not issuing initial letters, and in addition, the contact telephone number on their letter is an Invalid number. This is entirely unprofessional and not compatible with their BPA “ approved operator” status! I encourage everyone to formally complain to retailers and the BPA.

There should be an option for zero stars. Disgusting that you can only park for 2 hours & you get a £100 fine if you run over that time. Not enough time to visit the shops there at all. No wonder there were so many parking spaces. I spent £5000 in the bed store. We were there for a while testing mattress’s & making our purchase, we also had food & visited other shops totally unaware that we only had a 2hour limit. I will not return to this retail park ever again & make sure I warn others not to visit. I feel very sorry for the businesses who must be suffering due to this terrible decision. You must be making a fortune from unsuspecting customers who will no doubt be receiving a horrendously high fine for spending their hard earned cash on your premises.

I was there for 24 minutes and they claim I was there for over 24 hours. Absolute thieves. An appeal is incoming but I am doubtful as to the success of it.

Just received my fine of £100 for being in the car park on a Saturday afternoon for 3.5 hrs. It was a rainy day and the car park was not at all full. Had a meal, did shopping at least 3 shops, month end with long check out queues and this is what you receive in return. I am going to dispute but I also feel we as customers should take this matter further.

Why would anyone go to this retail site with 2 restaurants and 20 businesses including B&Q, Sports Direct, B&M, Curry's when you have to run around and sprint between shops just to get your shopping done in the 2 hours you're allowed to leave your car at this site. If you decide on lunch in one of the cafes, Pizza Hut or KFC then you can forget about any decent time to shop unless you like your personal time harassed. The parking signs are tiny, you can barely read what it's saying, hard to read. Used to be 3.3 hours but recently changed apparently to 2 hours. CP Parking are the crooks operating the site. They are part of the T/A GroupNexus. Why the businesses allow this disgusting practise to happen around their brand is beyond me! There are plenty of retail sites with free unlimited parking around the region. I get its close to the A1M and they need to discourage people car sharing for work and leaving their cars all day however the point here is 2 hours limit is just unreasonable. Never again.

Same as above, £100 fine for staying 2hrs 36 mins. Had flooring, skirting boards, curtains, curtain poles, blinds, and paint, to pick up. Over £700 spent. Took more than 2.46 mins. Won’t be back. Sorry B&Q. Owned independently from businesses they have no jurisdiction over time limit. Day light robbery. Disabled and parking near the front all the signs are at the back of the car park?!?

Like a number of other reviews, I was unaware of the 2hr limit...not obvious from the signage depending where you park. £100 is a joke! I feel sorry for the businesses that are struggling as this won't help. This was definitely my last visit to the retail park as I can access the same shops elsewhere with free parking. I hope someone out there has the sense to think of the businesses that need customers and not just allowing parking scams like this to continue.

I wouldn’t rate this car park. Staying with my sister in Durham and we have always parked here, done shopping and always coffee and cake in Dunelm, got home to Yorkshire and received a fine for £100. Furious isn’t the word!

Day light robbery only give people 2 hrs parking in a retail park. It will put people off shopping there. But the company will not be bothered about that. For them it’s all about raking the money (fines) in.

Would have been negative stars if it were possible. Same as all other reviews, was informed today that my daughter and I both received notice of £100 fine after meeting for shopping and a coffee at Durham City Retail Park. this parking company is disgraceful, what they are doing may be legal, but to me, it is a scam to catch unsuspecting drivers. Yes, there are plenty of signs explaining the rules but, the signs are small and the bit about the 2 hours limit not emphasized. The sign identifying the trolley park is 10 times bigger. Also, it would have been nice if they had highlighted prominently the change from 3.5 hours in May to the 2-hour limit now. To all the shops and restaurants At Durham City Retail Park, Bye-Bye, as you will not be seeing me again and I will be recommending to family, friends and anyone reading this review to keep away, as the businesses on the site are letting this happen!

I will not be shopping here again, 2 hours for a retail park is ridiculous, no wonder shops are closing down, nobody will shop here if they get a fine for parking over 2 hours! Absolutely disgusting, pure greed and if the shops have agreed to this they deserve to close down!

Went there for supplies to decorate a room. After buying what we needed we re-visited Dunelm for a coffee but this took us 17 minutes over the time supposedly allowed. It used to be 3hr 30mins allowed but never thought about checking every time I visited but that is no longer a problem as I will not be back. Sorry shops but blame the Dick Turpin parking company that is ruining your trade with this scam

Would give it no stars if I could! Just received a fine by staying 34minutes over time. We went to Wrens, as we had an appointment with them, then B and Q and Sports Direct. Will never go back! Absolutely disgusting. The shops should get together and put a stop to this as their business will be affected by this ludicrous rule!

£100 fine for allegedly parking here for over 24 hours on a Monday night. Was literally here to buy fence paint and popped back the next day for another tin. Absolutely joke! Nobody to call about it either. Have ring door bell footage of my car parked at home. Why on earth would I leave my car here overnight. Did I just leave it then get a taxi home like and come back the next day? Ridiculous

Outrageous. No-one expects charges when parking at a retail park like this. away from the city centre. 2 hours 20 minutes in my case. I visited several shops and also stopped for lunch.

Absolute disgrace getting fined £100 to stay here for 2 hours 40mins. Only went to b&m and dunelm and stopped in the cafe to feed our newborn. Definitely will not be going back. What a shame that these shops will ultimately close as a result because people will be fed up receiving ridiculous fines.

I too have had this experience, not realising the time restiction. 2 hours may be adequate for a single store but not for retail park. The shops will lose business. Perhaps they should put pressure on the parking company.

Just received £100 fine for parking 16 minutes over limit. Disabled did some shopping then went for lunch won’t be back.

Absolutely shocked to receive a parking ticket to park for 2hours and 32 minutes which I didn’t even realise gad a time on it, i won’t be going again and hope all the shops close cause it’s just unfair

Just received a £100 fine for staying there 2hrs 57 mins! How are you supposed to shop and have lunch in this time frame

Shocking!!! Disabled with blue badge & just fined £100 for 2hrs 20 min. Allowing for time to get me out of car & into elec wheelchair, needing help with shopping etc simply impossible & tbh I imagine still too short a limit for a fit person who could jump out of the car & rush around the shops.

Ive just received a £100 fine for parking 3 hrs and 10 mins. I had a long lunch in Dunelm and visited other shops. Do they want shoppers here or should I stick with the MetroCentre?

Beware! just been issued with £100 PCN after spending 2hrs 48m and several hundred pounds after visiting SCS, B&Q and Dunelm and stopping for coffee and cake. Seems like the owners want the retail park to fail by putting a 2hour limit on parking.

Just received a fine for having parked here for 2h 47 minutes. Absolutely disgraceful. There were never charges here before. We did some shopping and had lunch-how are you supposed to do that in 2 hours?

Just received PCN for this car park. Unaware there is a time limit. Stayed 26 minutes over in disabled bays. Visited this place often. Won't be going back.

This is a disgrace, absolutely shocking. I shopped and ate here. Who would check how long you need to park if you are using the service, this is a scam. You want shopping centres to close and everyone use on line then you are going a long way to that happening and then nobody will need your company.. Absolutely shocking

Is it unlimited parking time on a bank holiday