14-month parking fine fight ... over a £1 ticket
A VOLUNTARY worker was hit with a £400 fine and almost had her car seized – after her £1 parking ticket blew over in the wind.
Paula Woolven parked her car before going to help a group of disabled children put on a pantomime at a theatre.
She bought a £1 pay-and-display ticket and placed it, face up, on her dashboard – but failed to spot that the wind had flipped it over before she closed the door.
She returned to find a £50 penalty charge notice on her windscreen. And so began a 14-month legal battle against the local council, which has seen her go through six appeals with three organisations and even having bailiffs sent to her home.
Despite explaining what had happened and providing proof she had purchased the ticket, officers at East Sussex County Council refused to overturn the fine.
An independent parking tribunal has now found in her favour, although the council is considering challenging the decision, which could lead to a High Court hearing.
Mrs Woolven, 44, said: ‘For a £1 ticket I estimate it’s probably cost them £1,000 in admin time, what they call officer time, and repaid charges.
‘It’s so ridiculous, it almost feels like a Monty Python sketch.’
Mrs Woolven had parked her Vauxhall Zafira in Seaford, near Eastbourne, on December 9, 2015. After discovering the penalty charge on her return and failing with her first appeal, she was taken to county court for non-payment.
The case was heard in her absence and bailiffs were sent to her home in nearby Telscombe Cliffs to seize her £11,000 car or take a £400 payment on the spot.
She made the payment but contacted her MP, Tory Simon Kirby. The court ruling was subsequently quashed and £400 bailiffs’ fee returned. But the council restarted the case for the unpaid £50 fine.
She has now been through six appeals: Four to the council, one at the court and the independent adjudication service the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
The adjudicator found in her favour this month but the matter could be transferred to the High Court in London as the council is considering its options.
Mrs Woolven said: ‘I hope common sense will prevail and the council will stop.’
She has now glued a clothes peg to her dashboard to hold her parking tickets.
East Sussex County Council said its traffic regulations are ‘very clear that it is the driver’s responsibility to ensure the ticket is displayed’.