A PARKING firm which issues fines on a supermarket car park has been operating without full planning and advertising consent since 2014.

ParkingEye erected 32 signs and a camera to monitor license plates at Morrisons in Whitehaven in August 2014 - but only applied for permission last month.

Motorists have now called on people who have been issued charges on the car park to challenge Morrisons and ParkingEye.

Allan Woodward, 51, who has challenged ParkingEye over a charge he believes was incorrectly issued, said the firm should have requested permission before it erected the signs and the camera.

Another disgruntled motorist and former solicitor, 65-year-old Robert Ransome, said that ParkingEye require advertisement consent according to Town and Country Planning Regulations to display the signs. 

He added: "Motorists should be forming an orderly queue at the customer service desk in Morrisons to demand a refund or cancellation of any charges."

Copeland council confirmed ParkingEye is currently in breach of advertisement regulations.

A spokeswoman for ParkingEye said that it was down to the land owner to acquire the correct planning permission for the parking operations.

She added that there was no legal requirement for the company to apply for the planning permission but it applied retrospectively as a "gesture of goodwill".

Barry Beavis, a 48-year-old who made national headlines after a court case against ParkingEye, said he does not see how the responsibility could lie with Morrisons when ParkingEye is now applying for its own cameras and signs.

A Morrisons spokesman said: “After customers told us they were finding it difficult to find spaces at busy times, we installed a parking management system in 2014. 

"An administrative oversight meant that the correct planning consent was not sought at the time. ParkingEye are now obtaining the correct permissions for the parking management system.”