Liberal Democrat Cllr Julie Ireland said she has been inundated with messages from people who claimed they had been fined after doing their shop at Bromley Waitrose.
They all reported that they had been sent £100 charges by Britannia Parking, which operates the supermarket’s car park and has traffic cameras in the access road that leads to it.
The cameras were installed in the road, which runs between Bromley police station and Bromley South station, in October at the request of the Metropolitan Police.
The force said it had recently faced “difficulties due to cars blocking the road”, which has been blamed on drivers using it as a drop-off point for the station.
It means that anyone who now stops or parks on the road risks a hefty fine.
But the News Shopper has heard from two people who say they had not been idling outside the police station, but instead waiting to pull out from the access road into Bromley High Street.
They claim they were fined after merely driving down the access road, parking in Waitrose car park to do their shop and then driving home again.
Cllr Ireland said she had been told that the fines were issued incorrectly after a fault with one of the cameras.
“The camera on the access road was picking up your registration number,” she said.
“The problem was there was a fault in the camera in Waitrose car park.
“It was not logging all the numberplates, so it looked on the system like they had been waiting in the access road.
“Finally, Waitrose and Britannia have accepted that there was a fault on the camera, and they have reviewed the fines.”
She added that the saga was a “be careful what you wish for” moment for local councillors, who had initially raised concerns about “terrible congestion” in the access road.
But councillors did not agree with the decision to fine drivers who were only waiting for a short time in the area historically used as a drop-off point for the station, she said.
“We are continuing to request the police reconsider their decision to penalise drivers who stop for a few minutes to drop off or collect passengers at Bromley South,” Cllr Ireland said.
“We have asked Network Rail for a meeting to discuss the need for a drop off point, and we’re having conversations with council officers about identifying an alternative location.”
The Metropolitan Police said that its policy for enforcing restrictions remained unchanged.
A spokesperson added: “Britannia Parking will send enforcement notices to those who stop, drop off, or park on the road.”
Britannia Parking did not respond to an email from the News Shopper, or a voicemail left on its answerphone.
Waitrose did not confirm what had caused fines to be issued to customers, but said it was “pleased” that all outstanding charges had been removed.
A spokesperson added that the supermarket considered the issue to “now be resolved”.
