Man refusing to pay parking fine
Threatening letter despite meter malfunction
A driver is refusing to pay a £100 parking fine following a blunder over meters.
Campbell MacEachern, (50), originally from Coalsnaughton in Clackmannanshire, now lives in Stroud in Gloucestershire.
During a holiday to visit family last month, he parked at the Rainbow Slides car park. When he went to pay the £2.50 fee the parking meters were out of order.
Now he has been sent a threatening letter demanding £100 from the firm who operates the car park, Excel Parking.
Campbell said: “I was up visiting my uncle. On July 26 I parked when I was going to the station to pick up my son.
“I went up to the machine to pay and it and it wouldn’t take any money. There was a laminated sign saying if both machines are out of action then park for free.
“The next day I came in to Stirling with my son and we had the same problem.”
Last Thursday Campbell received a letter from Excel Parking asking for £100 because he hadn’t paid for parking. He added: “I’m not paying it. I will leave it for the moment on the grounds that the machine wasn’t taking the money.
“Nobody else could pay the money either so I wonder how many people have been sent the same fine.
“I had been out buying a wedding kilt for my sons wedding, so I had already spent quite a lot of money.”
A second motorist also contacted the Observer after being slapped with a £100 fine because he entered one digit incorrectly when supplying his registration number.
John Biggs (73), from Warrington, spent three days in Stirling in mid-June. He parked at the Rainbow Slides car park to do a spot of shopping in the city centre with his wife. However, the elderly motorist inadvertently typed one digit of his car’s registration number incorrectly and has been now hit with the financial penalty as a result.
Mr Biggs said: “I paid the fee of £2.50 at 11.15am which entitled me to park my car for 24-hours as the ticket stated.
“I’m approaching 73 years of age and my eyesight is not as good as it used to be, and I entered my registration number incorrectly, with one wrong number, I have received a parking fine of £100 for this slight mistake I made.
“Having spent three lovely days in your beautiful city I just thought I would air my views, knowing that I will have to think carefully about returning to Stirling in the future.”
Excel Parking manage the car park on behalf of Allan Water Property Company.
The car park sits on the site of the former Rainbow Slides leisure centre, in Goosecroft Road.
Allan Water Property acquired the site and the adjoining car park from Stirling Council and the sports centre was flattened to make way for the development in 2014.
Work on the nearby Travelodge Hotel, also on the old Rainbow Slides site, began in January.
Excel Parking had no responded to the Observer’s request for comment at the time of print.
Allan Water Property Company declined to comment.