my partner and I went to Bury on Sunday April 3, 11. I wanted to look in Halfords and Comet and she wanted to go to the nearby Marks & Spencer store which is just across the road and part of the new multi-million pound The Rock development.

The car park I chose to enter is part of an old retail park in which only Carpet Right, Halfords and Comet are now operating. I spent some time looking round Halfords and then went in Comet where I bought a mobile phone. We arrived at 15.05hrs, the ticket was timed at 1510hrs, I made my purchase at 15.59hrs and we left soon after.

The company has told me that they interpret “leaving the car park on foot” to mean any person out of the car leaving on foot or anyone leaving on foot after completing a qualifying purchase in the shops on this site. I personally did not at any time leave the car park on foot. This means that even giving someone a lift and dropping them off when you pull into this car park could result in a £100 fine. As you can see from the aerial view (Google Earth) it is an extensive car park and basically unused while the much smaller council (pay and display) site is packed.

Although the present arrangement might have made sense when this was an isolated retail site well away from the main shopping area it no longer makes sense with the new development right across the street. I think that this car park should be taken into council ownership and made ‘pay and display’ to remove any risk of confusion.

George Steele