The other week I had a chat with a parking attendant about how long I could stay in a privately-run supermarket car park. He politely gave me the info, watched me walk away and then put a parking fine on my windscreen!
What had I done? Crossed the road. I hadn’t seen the notice that said I could not go ‘off site’ and the parking attendant had not offered up this information to me when I checked with him.
Yes, he told me that I was allowed to park for two hours. He also told me that I had to go to the supermarket, which I did. But he didn’t bother to tell me that I couldn’t go to the other shops over the road.
Last week we reported that eight million parking fines are given out every year. Despite this huge figure, in some boroughs many motorists successfully appeal. That is exactly what I did.
I phoned up the number on the ticket straight away and was amazed to get through to a very polite lady who apologised and told me to appeal. As soon as my ticket came through, I appealed online and within a week I received a letter saying they had dropped the whole thing.
If you get caught out with a parking fine and don’t think it was fair then it’s worth appealing. Although not all private parking firms will give you the chance. And please, dear parking attendants, do your bit as well and play fair!