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Man Fined £273 For Mistake Over 20p In Parking Meter

Man Fined £273 For Mistake Over 20p In Parking Meter

Lee Taylor says he thought he had paid the correct sum until he received a notice

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A dad has warned other drivers to be careful after he was slapped with a £273 fine for an issue over 20p mistake at a parking meter.

Lee Taylor and his family travelled to a soft play centre in Redcar this summer, and parked their Citreon in the car park and paid £3.30 for a four-hour stay.

However, after they left the Euro Car Parks site on West Dyke Road, a few weeks later, the 38-year-old received an £100 penalty notice.

The dad-of-five and his wife Laura realised they had paid the Monday to Friday price rather than the Saturday price of £3.50 and got in touch with Euro Car Parks to appeal the decision, even offering to pay the extra 20p.

Lee claims he didn't receive a reply from the company - which requests appeals are made in writing - until they got a notice informing them that the fine had gone up because he hadn't paid it.

Teesside Live

A few weeks later, the couple then received another notice, this time telling them that the fine had risen to £273 and that court proceedings would occur if they failed once again to pay up.

Speaking about the situation, Lee said: "I realised I had made a genuine mistake and had paid the Monday to Friday price instead of the Saturday price of £3.50 which meant I was short by 20p.

"I received no change from the machine to indicate we had only paid for three hours.

"There was no way of contacting this company direct and it said to appeal we must do this in writing which we did explaining the mistake and offering to pay what we owed.

"We received no correspondence from Euro Car Parks until a few weeks later when they stated the fine had increased because we hadn't paid in a certain time.

"Again we appealed in writing stating we hadn't received anything back from our appeal.

Teesside Live

"Another few weeks passed with nothing then suddenly we received a letter from a debt company telling us the debt had been passed onto them and we must now pay £273 off or face court proceedings.

"We contacted the debt company and they basically said there is no way of appealing this anymore and we either paid it or face court.

"Me and my wife have tried everything to resolve this and we have been totally ignored.

"I feel this is all a way of these companies exploiting and scaring people into paying these unreasonable fees.

"This has caused us much distress and I would hate it to happen to lots of other people."

The family often goes to Redcar, says Lee, and they have used the car park before. They usually pay for parking by phone but this time, they paid using cash.

LADbible has contacted Euro Car Parks for a comment.

Featured Image Credit: Teesside Live

Topics: Parking, Dad, Car