Should I have to pay a parking ticket for accidentally entering my reg number wrong?

I have received a parking charge of £60 for not paying the parking fee. I did pay the fee but as it was difficult to enter the registration I inadvertently entered a letter E in error of the letter F. I realised this after the ticket was issued. I have written to them giving this information but they are upholding the charge. I did not avoid paying the parking charge and feel aggrieved that I should be penalised for making a simple error on a difficult machine. Should I further contest the charge?

Asked on 18 January 2017 by highlander2

Answered by Honest John

Since November 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled on the Beavis case, parking enforcers have been given carte blanche to make up their own rules and enforce them. Difficult-to-use registration keyboards have been part of the entrapment recipe since well before the Beavis case, but until some brave soul challenges this and it goes to the Supreme Court and they get a ruling in their favour everyone is liable to get screwed. See: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/private-parking-penalties/

Tags: legal and consumer advice parking charges parking ticket

Similar questions

Is it fair that I've been given a parking ticket?

When paying by phone, I inputted my car reg using lower case letters. This was sufficient for POPLA to find that I had failed to pay and so issued me a parking penalty.

I didn't get a parking ticket because the machine was broken - is it fair I've now been charged £70?

Are parking charges of £70 enforceable when the only reason I didn't get a ticket is because the machine wasn't working? I'm 82 years of age and could not possible have walked to another floor to purchase...

I got a parking charge for overstaying in a 'free' car park - can I fight this?

I've been charged £100 for overstaying in a McDonalds car park on the A12. I've appealed both to McDonalds (I was in the "restaurant" the whole time) and MET parking. They claimed there were time limit...