Ticket slip up cost me £100
PARKING FINE AFTER REGISTRATION ERROR
A DRIVER lost out on £100 because of an error on a £1.50 parking ticket.
Peter Lundgren paid £1.50 to park his car at Tynemouth Station, North Tyneside, in August.
The 57-year-old was due to perform at the venue with his band Midnite Special and paid the £1.50 charge to cover an all-day stay.
However, when he punched his car registration number into the ticket machine, he made a mistake. One letter was wrong and one of the digits was repeated.
Knowing he had paid the correct amount of money, he placed the ticket on full display in his vehicle.
But, two weeks later, he received a letter asking him to pay a £100 fine or £60 if he paid straight away.
Mr Lundgren, of West Moor, appealed to car park management company ParkingEye and explained that he had paid for the parking but made a genuine error with the reg number.
He says the company told him it would accept a reduced payment of £20 as a goodwill gesture.
However, he did not accept the £20 charge and appealed further to independent body POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals). He was unsuccessful there too and has now had to pay the full original fine of £100.
Mr Lundgren said his postcode and the beginning of his car reg number were similar, which led to the error.
He added: “I can’t believe it. It was such a small mistake and I hoped they would take a common sense approach and see that I had actually paid the £1.50 charge.
“I had paid the correct money and had proof with the ticket, which I put on full display.
“I thought a traffic warden would make allowances. I did not realise the car park was monitored by number plate recognition cameras, and I received a letter two weeks later asking me to pay a fine.
“I appealed to ParkingEye with the ticket evidence but they declined and said they would accept a reduced payment of £20.
“At that point I thought about paying them to avoid the hassle. But I rejected it on principle – I had paid the parking charge.
“I refused to pay £20 and appealed to POPLA. But they have just said my appeal was unsuccessful, so I had to pay £100.
“I realise I should have been more careful but it seems this is such harsh punishment for a small mistake.”
A spokesperson from ParkingEye said: “ParkingEye operates an audited appeals process and encourages people to appeal if they feel there are mitigating circumstances. If a motorist disagrees with our decision they have the option to appeal to the independent appeals service (POPLA).
“In this case the driver did appeal to POPLA, who upheld our original decision.”
A spokesman from Ombudsman Services said POPLA’s role was to provide an independent service that can consider appeals and determine if a fine is issued correctly.
He added: “When parking on private land, the contract is formed by the driver reading the signage and deciding to remain in the car park. When doing so, it is the motorist’s responsibility to ensure that they perform the actions required of them as part of that contract.
“Where the signage states that a ‘full, correct’ vehicle registration should be entered, it is the motorist’s responsibility to do so in order to ensure they are complying with the terms and conditions they have agreed to.”