Parking fine for man who paid to park

A WOKINGHAM man was given a parking ticket while visiting the doctor – despite putting the correct money in the machine.

On Monday, Adrian Mather used the new Rose Street pay and display car park so he could attend an appointment at the Wokingham Medical Centre which is next door. He said that he paid £1.20 to park for two hours, but received a ticket regardless.

To meet his 8am appointment, Mr Mather arrived at 7.50am, and found that while he could put £1.20 into the pay and display machine, he could not purchase a daytime ticket as it was not yet 8am and the car park’s metres were set to the nighttime rate of £1.

However, he returned from his appointment at 8.20am - just 30 minutes after arriving in the car park - to discover that he was given a parking ticket at 8.10am.

“I could not leave the doctor’s in the doctors in mid-appointment to re-ticket my car and then go back,” he said.

“I believe that it is reasonable to have a doctors appointment at 08:00. I believe I did the right thing in purchasing a 2 hour parking ticket, I would say in expectation and good faith that I would be allowed to park without being fined.”

And he argues that it is Wokingham Borough Council’s (WBC) parking system that is at fault.

He said: “I did not understand that a two-hour parking ticket issued at 7.50am in the morning effectively meant a 10-minute parking ticket due to the inadequacy of WBC’s IT systems.

“I think it is totally unreasonable for WBC to levy this Penalty Charge Notice. I believe their IT systems are not setup to let me purchase the appropriate parking ticket.

“I do not believe I did anything other than act in a totally lawabiding manner.

“Therefore I expect the council to cancel this Penalty Charge Notice.”

Mr Mather said he had also written to John Redwood to express his frustration.

Cllr Keith Baker, executive member for highways and transport, pledged to investigate Mr Mather’s claims.

He said: “We cannot, of course, discuss individual case, but this is an interesting issue and we are looking into it.

“In the meantime, the gentleman can lodge an appeal against the ticket citing the circumstances he has already set out.

“As parking charges cover 24 hours, our officers patrol at all times and issue tickets where appropriate.”

Have you received a strange ticket? Email news@wokinghampaper.co.uk