Locked in carpark

[mcdjl]

Recently I parked in a retail centre car park read the terms as far as the '3 hours free' which i thought was plenty. i did some shopping then, popped off the site and returned within 3 hours....at which point I realised that there was barrier that got locked an hour after the shops shut. Yes there was sign at the entrance telling me this, yes i failed to read it, yes I'm stupid. The charge for overstaying 3 hours is £70 and parking overnight is prohibited (but no charge is specifically attached to this, so i assume its the £70).
I haven't yet had any invoice (I live in slim hope that the hassle of having my car locked in will make someone relent) and do expect to pay it. However on the basis that 'preventing access to the public highway' is some kind of offence are the car park management technically guilty of this (despite having signs saying the car park would shut)?

[mcdjl]

TooMany2cvs said:

It isn't.

Parking across the end of somebody's drive, preventing them from getting their car off their property, is different to locking your own car park when you close.

I suspected that would be the case, it did seem odd that a proper company would be likely to open themselves up to a proper offence. Clealy I've read too much on here but not enough sense. I shall not hold my breath while i wait for the invoice though.

[mcdjl]

allergictocheese said:

No criminal offence here if the barrier is a permanent one that can be put in place at the time and there is sufficient warning that you may end up trapped inside.

I would imagine by leaving the site and going elsewhere you've likely breached a parking term relating to use being for users of that site only.

If a charge arrives dispute on the basis there has been no material loss, a £70 charge bears no relation to even the greatest loss that could be envisaged and is clearly a penalty designed to deter breach.

I don't think it was worded as a loss, more that the charge for staying longer than 3hours was £70. Ho hum, live and learn!