Storm Dennis left me with a parking fine
AWOMAN has pledged to keep fighting after Sefton Council rejected her claim that Storm Dennis blew over her parking space ticket.
Rebecca Hill-Harmsworth, 33, from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, was visiting the Floral Hall in Southport for an amphibian and reptile conference.
The ecologist consultant said she had paid for her parking space.
However, when she returned to her car at lunchtime on Sunday, February 16 the ticket blew over in the high winds on her dashboard, leaving it upside down - which she didn’t notice.
It was only a short time later she received a parking charge asking for £50, reducing to £25 if Rebecca paid within 14 days.
She said: “I had paid for my ticket and it was all fine. I went back to my car at lunchtime and it must have flipped over in the high winds and was facing down.”
She said that she appealed against the decision and provided evidence of the paid-for ticket.
But in an email the council said: “The reason for the issue of the penalty notice was because the vehicle was observed parked in a clearly designated pay and display car park, however the pay and display ticket was displayed face down showing the advert side uppermost, therefore the civil enforcement officer was unable to see the requisite details to ensure its validity.
“Payment alone is not sufficient to comply with the regulations.
“It is the responsibility of the motorist to ensure a valid ticket is visibly displayed continuously in such a way that the civil enforcement officer can clearly read or ascertain all the details thereon.”
Rebecca said that because of Storm Dennis and the unusually high winds, this should be classed as mitigating circumstances.
She also claimed that she had paid more than the original price for the ticket as she had no change and therefore the £25/£50 the council is asking for was unreasonable.
She added: “I am pretty annoyed and upset I have gone to them and said what had happened and I think it is pretty unreasonable when I have paid £5 when it was £4.50, so over the odds anyway.”
She said that she would continue her appeal.
A council spokesman said: “Sefton Council received the appeal to this particular parking fine, which was subsequently rejected.
“We have advised the motorist of their options if they wish to escalate the matter.”