£100 parking ticket - do I have to pay?`

I was given a parking ticket recently. On the day in question, I put £2.60 into the meter (for two hours parking), but it was raining heavily and I failed to notice that 10p had dropped straight through. As a result, the meter gave me a ticket for 1 hour, but showed I had paid £2.50. I wrote a note explaining what had happened and clearly displayed it next to the ticket, believing this was perfectly reasonable.

I returned just over an hour later and found I had been given a ticket a few minutes past the hour. I appealed to the parking firm, but they ignored my explanation. I also appealed to POPA, but they weren’t interested either. I have since had a letter demanding £100 within 14 days. Do I have to pay this?

Asked on 10 September 2014 by djjones

Answered by Honest John
The same would happen in a council carpark that employed the same system (though the penalty would normally be a lot less). You would still be due to pay the penalty and because you have appealed you have passed the point when you would have got away with a lesser penalty.

POPLA rules on matters of fact and law. It is not employed to show any compassion. And, strictly speaking, if you let the matter go to small claims, the same will probably happen. The system is designed to make money out of you. It is not designed to be sympathetic.
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