A BOSS at Toys R Us has told runners of the Derby 10k who were hit with fines after a parking mix-up that they do not need to fork out.
Some runners and spectators have had the £60 notices through their letterboxes following the event at the iPro Stadium.
They had parked in spaces at the Toys R Us shop on the Wyvern Retail Park, which were supposed to be official parking for the race.
Organisers of the 10k, Sporting Futures, have already advising people not to pay the fines.
Now Bob Knight, in charge of Toys R Us car parks, has confirmed this is the case and said that the fault was not his company's. He said the firm had been allowing 10k runners to use the car park for free for "three or four years".
G24 is currently the company that deals with security for Toys R Us in that car park.
Mr Knight said its camera system was still working on the day of the run, but that G24 was told not to issue tickets for cars parking there between 7am and 3pm on the day of the run, Sunday, April 6.
He said: "We told them that. They sent us a note saying we've actioned this request, but they didn't.
"If anyone gets a parking ticket that relates to a vehicle parked there between 7am and 3pm on that day, just ignore it and the ticket will be cancelled."
He said that if people have already paid their fine "G24 will have to refund the money".
Mr Knight that G24 "haven't got a choice" but to offer refunds. He said: "I'm the host. They are just the suppliers [of security].
"There is a parking control system on that car park due to the proximity to the town centre and the football ground.
"We've got seven shops out of 85 which we've had to put some kind of parking control on. That's the measure of how many sites have the system.
"We only put controls on where they are necessary."
Donna Rollinson, 10k event co-ordinator at Sporting Futures, said eight people had got in touch with the organisation to say they had been fined. She said: "We've had confirmation that the fines will be cancelled."
She said that she was sure the same free car parking would be offered next year as it had been a long-running arrangement.
The Derby Telegraph attempted to contact G24 but was unable to speak to a member of staff.
