Driver wins battle over ‘ridiculous’ fine
A MAN who parked in a disabled zone was issued with a fine less than two mintues after arriving, despite showing an officer his blue badge.
Garry White, 53, was fined in February 2018 after parking up at Midland Way Retail Park in Radford.
Garry, who lived in Eastwood at the time, left his car to read a parking entrance sign before turning around to see an officer writing him up a ticket.
He says that he showed the officer his blue badge – confirming that he had the right to park in a disabled zone – before being told that he would have to pay a fine.
As a person suffering with spinal stenosis – what Gary describes as arthritis in his back – he often has trouble walking.
Just 83 seconds had passed between Garry leaving his car and being given a ticket.
Garry, who now lives in Ilkeston, said: “Basically I drove in and when I drove in I wasn’t aware there was an entrance sign and that said ‘private land’ but obviously you can’t stop as you’re driving so I carried on driving and parked up.
“So I walked up to the sign. I’m disabled so I was a bit slow and methodical, and I walked over to the sign to read it, looked back and there was a guy ticketing my car.
“On a video from my dash-cam you can see it was 83 seconds between me leaving my car and them ticketing me.
“So I went back to the car with my blue badge in my hand – if you go to some places like Asda, if you just show them your badge they leave you alone.
“So I’m showing him my badge and he says that I would be going to CCJ [County Court Judgement] if I
PENALTY ISSUED TO BLUE BADGE HOLDER AFTER 83 SECONDS
didn’t pay it.
“Basically I just thought this is nonsense, got in my car and drove off.
“It was about a week later I got a letter through the post – this was in February 2018 and basically it just rumbled on from there.
“I’ve got my badge. I sent them a copy of it and they just wrote back saying ‘appeal rejected. We know you have a badge but you should have displayed it.’
“The court case had to be delayed because I’ve had issues with my spine and I had to have a hip replacement.”
The initial fine of £60 eventually reached over £200 by the time Garry found himself in court.
The judge dismissed the claims made by the private parking company, Vehicle Control Services, when Garry showed dash-cam footage of the incident that happened not far from the University of Nottingham.
Following years of haggling the matter was finally resolved in county court, where Garry was awarded £1,000 in costs and damages.
“Finally it went ahead about three weeks ago via video link on the computer. I sent the court a link to this video that I uploaded on Youtube. “It took the judge less than ten minutes to dismiss the claim.” He added: “I counter-claimed £900 but he gave me £1,000. He gave me costs of £440. They objected to that, and then he awarded me another £560 for punitive damages. It went on for two and a half years – it was just ridiculous.” Vehicle Control Services have been approached for comment but had not responded at the time of going to press.
It took the judge less than ten minutes to dismiss the claim
Garry White