CANON USED HIS WIFE’S CAR TO DELIVER TENTS TO HOMELESS
ACHAPLAIN who used a car park while delivering tents to the homeless accidentally typed the wrong registration number into the parking machine – and now faces a fine 160 times greater than the cost of his ticket.
Canon Dr Randolph Ellis, Bangor Cathedral’s high street chaplain, put his own car registration number into the machine instead of his wife’s at the Menai Centre car park in Bangor.
The 75-year-old paid £1 to park for approximately half an hour, but was then sent a demand for £100.
Canon Ellis, from Penisarwaun, was using his wife’s car to deliver pop-up tents for the homeless and rough sleepers in January.
He appealed the initial demand but has received another letter from Excel Parking Services, the Sheffield-based firm that runs the car park, telling him his case has been passed on to a debt collection agency.
A further £60 has been added to the fine for passing the case on and he has been threatened with a court order if he did not pay the full amount by yesterday, Tuesday. Canon Ellis said: “What is particularly galling about all this is that I paid £1 for my ticket and did not stay beyond the allocated time.
“The company already have their money, but they seem to want another reason to make even more money. It seems entirely unreasonable to me that anyone coming into Bangor might end up being sent a bill – as I did – 160 times greater than the actual cost of their £1 car park ticket. What is also distressing is the intimidating effect that the company’s correspondence is having on me. It all seems completely out of proportion. At a time when the local authority is putting in nearly £2m to reinvigorate the Bangor retail and housing economy, such fines might discourage people from enjoying its cafe and restaurant culture and turn them away from the many independent high street businesses.”
An Excel Parking Services spokesperson said the private pay and display (P&D) car park was monitored by automatic number plate recognition cameras and the conditions for using it required motorists to input their full and accurate registration number when buying a ticket.
This was covered on signage next to the machines and in the step by step purchase instructions on them.
They added: “Whilst Dr Ellis entered a registration number for a totally different vehicle, he did not provide any supporting evidence with his appeal to substantiate happened.
“Although we declined Dr Ellis’ appeal, he was given the option to have his case assessed, for free, by the Independent Appeals Service (the IAS).
“In the absence of any such appeal being made, or settlement of the PCN, matters have naturally progressed to the debt recovery stage and the amount of the parking charge has increased in line with due warning given on the notices we have issued. We are obliged to alert motorists that court action may be taken and we do not consider what had our correspondence to be threatening.
“In a world where technology is constantly evolving, there is an increasing reliance on the accurate input of data by customers, such as PIN numbers, and we do not consider it an unreasonable term and condition to specify that an accurate vehicle registration number must be input. Of course, we can understand that mistakes can happen and we do provide a helpline number on our signage in order for motorists to report any issues and potentially avoid the issue of a Parking Charge Notice.”