Ex-magistrate in court over 50p parking dispute
AFORMER Black Country magistrate has revealed how he has been taken to court over a 50p wrangle with a private parking firm from three years ago.
Worcestershire resident Clive Sowerby accidentally underpaid in a private car park by 50p in 2019 – and is now facing a £272 fine and has a County Court judgement against his name.
The pensioner says his “good name has been ruined” by the mix-up.
But the Birmingham parking company says it had no choice but to take the pensioner to court as he had ignored all of their letters.
Mr Sowerby, 77, lives in Chaddesley Corbett, near Kidderminster, and has owned and run Sowerby Shoes in Stourbridge town centre for over 50 years.
He was also a magistrate in courts across the Black Country for 22 years until he retired.
The dispute arose when he parked in Crown Lane car park in Stourbridge in October 2019 – as he has done several times a week for many years.
He put his usual £4 fee in the ticket machine – unaware the charges had gone up and he had underpaid by 50p.
“I couldn’t see very well at the time due to cataracts and didn’t see the tiny sticker which had been put over the sign, changing the 00 to 50p,” he said.
“I then had a letter demanding a £60 fine, which I replied to straightaway, explaining what had happened and hoping they’d show me some leniency.”
But in November he received a further demand for payment – which had now gone up £160.
He wrote back again, but did not hear anything more. In March 2020, the country went into lockdown and Clive was forced to close his shop and had to go into isolation because his wife, Helen, had leukaemia and had fallen gravely ill with Covid.
On January 28 this year, he popped into his shop and found a note saying he had post to collect from Stourbridge sorting office – which turned out to be letters from the county court.
“The summons was dated January 5, 2021, and said I had two weeks to respond – but, of course, I was too late,” he said.
“Because of this, they found against me in my absence and the fine went up to £272 and they issued a County Court judgement against my name.
“That will mean I’ll have trouble getting credit in future years. I’m angry because I didn’t get any correspondence from the parking company.
“It was all sent to my business address which I couldn’t get to because of lockdown and looking after my wife.
“I just want to go to court, tell them what happened, and if they find in favour of the parking company, so be it.
“I’m not a dishonest person, but feel this is completely out of order and will stand up and fight against injustices.
“All this just over 50p, but the big issue for me is the court having issued this when we were in mandatory lockdown – nobody should be receiving CCJs in lockdown.”
Mr Sowerby has now paid £255 to the court “to be set aside”, which means a hearing will be held to decide the case.
A spokesman for Premier Parking Logistics, which is based in the Jewellery Quarter, disputed Mr Sowerby’s version of events.
He said the tariff had been changed two months prior to Mr Sowerby getting the fine and claimed all correspondence was sent to his home address.
“We get our addresses from the DVLA and that would have been his home address,” the spokesman said.
“We only send correspondence to a person’s home address, never their business, and no letters from us ever went to his work address.
“He didn’t get in touch with us to query the fine.“
The spokesman said all fines are issued by a member of their staff going to the car park regularly and checking tickets.