Widower, 80, fined £160 for 10p error on parking ticket
IT was his first trip out after the death of his wife.
So it is perhaps understandable that 80-year-old George Taylor should have made a slight miscalculation with his parking ticket.
But the widower was stunned to be landed with a £160 parking fine after accidentally underpaying by 10p.
Mr Taylor received the massive charge after a trip to Perth in May. He had ventured out for the first time since his wife, Sybil, passed away a fortnight earlier.
The pensioner said the machine at the city’s Kinnoull Street multi-storey car
‘If they are so desperate I’ll pay them 20p’
park issued a ticket after he put in £5.20 for a four-and-a-quarter-hour stay.
Car park operator Smart Parking says he should have paid £5.30 and Mr Taylor has received the bill from the company, which claims he owes the money for being 10p under.
The widower said: ‘I’ve now got a debt recovery notice asking for £160. I have no idea why they are pursuing me like they are for 10p – if they are so desperate I’ll pay them 20p but I’m got giving them more than that.’
The pensioner returned to the notoriously confusing car park at around 10pm.
He claims that after he paid £5.20 the machine produced a ticket timestamped for a 1.50am exit. Assuming he had paid enough to cover the time he had been parked, he then headed home to Dalgety Bay, in Fife, but was shocked to receive an initial demand for £60, which has now risen to £160.
Mr Taylor added: ‘My friends had been in there before and knew you paid when you leave.
‘We had overstayed the four hours by 14 minutes so we were due to pay £5.30. After we’d paid £5.20, the machine issued a ticket, which said we could stay till 1.52am the following morning.
‘If we hadn’t paid the right money, I maintain, we shouldn’t have got a ticket. Who is going to bother about 10p at 10pm on a Sunday night?’
The car park has previously attracted complaints for being confusing and for not accepting cards or notes.
Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, yesterday slammed the fine as disproportionate.
He said: ‘Smart Parking’s relentless pursuit of an 80-year-old widowed pensioner for the loss of, essentially, 10p is nothing short of shameless.
‘Incidents like this do little to improve Smart Parking’s reputation in Perth.’
A spokesman for Smart Parking said: ‘Mr Taylor paid for four hours, but stayed for four hours and 14 minutes. The ticket lists 01:52 because he bought the ticket on his way out, rather than on arrival.
‘Signs clearly state “you must pay for the full period of time your vehicle is in the car park”.’