I parked at Cineworld in Chichester to watch the new film Avatar: Fire and Ash.
It is more than three hours long and, when I returned to my car, I’d received a penalty charge notice (PCN) for overstaying. I’d watched the previous two Avatar films there without a problem.
Cineworld has since told me that customers should enter their registration plates on a screen on arrival at the cinema, but I saw nothing telling me this.
AR, Bognor Regis, West Sussex
Cineworld customers in other parts of the country have been similarly caught out when the maximum parking allowance was reduced by the landowner from four hours to three on some sites. This happened in Chichester last summer. There are signs displaying the new time limit in the car park but regulars, accustomed to a longer stay, won’t necessarily clock them.
The cinema company’s booking confirmation emails make no mention of the requirement to log a vehicle on arrival.
Cineworld told me it does not own or manage the car park and that signs advise customers of the new rules.
Despite insisting it had no responsibility for PCNs, it cancelled yours after I got in touch.
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