Council have us over barrel when it comes to parking appeals (From Wimbledon Guardian)

Letter to the Editor: Council have us over barrel when it comes to parking appeals

12:58pm Thursday 26th July 2012 in Your Neighbourhood - Merton

By Lee Smith, via email

I am writing in shock that the council upheld the fine against Mrs King and continues to do so.

She did everything correctly. She bought a £10 ticket and displayed it in her car, upon leaving the car the ticket was visible.

It is absolutely not her fault that the quality of the ticket paper is not good enough to withstand rain followed by hot temperatures.

When she produced the ticket during the appeal process, the fine should have been cancelled immediately. 

Instead the council have abused their power and simply upheld it.

In your article, Mrs King considered if it was worth challenging the council further rather than paying, and in fact she surely would have won in front of an independent adjudicator.

But the council have us ordinary folk over a barrel when taking it further: If you do lose, you have to pay the full amount of £120 rather than the lower 'pay in 14 days' £60 arrangement.

This is entirely unfair and puts me and others off from appealing further, when in fact we may have a very good case, as Mrs King certainly did.

The only fair thing to do now would be to admit their mistake and refund Mrs King. 

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