Council told to give supermarket’s money back

A TORREMOLINOS supermarket has won back more than €350,000 the council overcharged it to allow clients to get into the car park.

A Malaga judge has found in favour of the supermarket, which was forced to pay extra amounts in 2013 after the council changed calculations used to determine the charges for no parking signs by the car-park entrances.

Although originally the rate was established by dividing the 1,200 parking spaces within the car park by the number of entrances, the council later decided it should have multiplied the number rather than dividing it and demanded €350,205 to cover the difference.

The judge based her decision on the fact that the decree, filed as a correction, did not simply correct a date or figure on the document, it changed the entire way amounts were calculated.

Although the council intends to appeal, the supermarket may well insist on having its money back in the meantime.