Pensioner’s disabled bay parking fine cancelled by council

A PENSIONER who was charged with a parking fine in December, 2018, has had it cancelled following a report by The Wokingham Paper.

Raymond Hill, who suffers from emphysema, had not noticed that his blue badge had expired.

He had expected to receive a Wokingham Borough Council letter notifying him of its impending renewal date, but a fault in the council’s system meant it was never issued.

In a letter to The Wokingham Paper this week, Mr Hill said: “I am pleased to report a happy outcome. I followed this up with an email to Councillor Pauline Jorgensen who is responsible for Highways and she replied very promptly.

“She advised that she had a great deal of sympathy with my position.

“Though the Council did remind most people, I was not reminded this time and it didn’t seem entirely fair and that in my situation, she would have been a bit disgruntled.

“She had therefore already asked the parking team to cancel my ticket as an act of goodwill. They had confirmed that they would be in contact with me to do this.

“A week later, I am still waiting for this confirmation so it seems that they are able to issue penalties on the spot but drag their feet when cancelling them. All credit to WBC for their all round prompt and understanding reaction. I should add that I have had numerous emails of support. There have been one or two who feel that I was defrauding the system but it would be a boring old world without them!

“A thank you to your excellent paper for your support – it just proves that it is worth fighting the system.”