A furious motorist has vowed to take a parking firm to court after a traffic warden issued her a £100 fine for parking in her own private space.
Laura Armstrong, 32, was left fuming after being handed the charge for parking in her designated spot in an underground gated car park at her apartment block in Worcester.
Laura was issued the fine after her parking permit slipped from the dashboard and fell out of view, but assumed that the punishment would be overturned once she explained that she lived on the premises and had a legal right to park there.
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But to her surprise, Parking Control Management Ltd - the company which manages the car park - has refused to back down, insisting that Laura pays up as the permit was not displayed at the time cited on 19 July.
She is now prepared to take the legal battle to court as she believes the company is in the wrong.
Laura, who works as a copywriter in Worcester, said: "My permit accidentally slipped from my dashboard and I went down to my car the next morning to find a £100 charge.
"I thought that once I explained I was the owner of the apartment that the parking space is attached to, the charge would be revoked - but I was wrong.
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"They came back and said no, it wouldn't be cancelled. I got in touch with the firm who manage the apartment and they weren't interested either.
"It doesn't matter to them if you can prove you have a legal right to park there - which just seems like madness.
"I was occupying the space which had been allocated to me and I wasn't causing an obstruction or anything like that.
"It's like they are out to punish residents rather than look after our interests and protect genuine permit holders. It just isn't right."
Laura also claimed that the same thing had happened to other residents at the property, and that this was not an isolated event.
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She explained: "The more I have talked to other residents about it, they say, 'This is what happens.' A friend of mine who also lives at the apartments says this has happened to her twice.
"Some people have said to me why don't I just pay, and let it go. But I don't want to give them any money.
"Most people back down when these companies start talking about bailiffs and things like that, but I'm not going to.
"I'll go to court if it goes that far. I'm really angry this is allowed and I will be seeking legal advice from a solicitor if they refuse to back down."
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Laura said there is no mention in her lease agreement of any need for permits in order to park her Toyota Aygo in the car park, and added that she couldn't even understand the need for the car park to even be managed when it was a gated residents' car park, only accessible through a door fob.
She continued: "Outside the flats there's constantly people parking in residents' spaces on the street, if anywhere needs patrolling by a traffic warden its there.
"Yet they send wardens into a gated underground car park which non-residents can't access anyway to fine genuine permit holders. It's like they are out to get us"
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"I've asked them to legally prove they are in the right but strangely enough I haven't heard back from them since."
LADbible has contacted Parking Control Management Ltd for comment.
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