Angela Jones, 60, found herself in a draining battle with a parking firm after she was fined £170 – for staying 65 seconds too long in a car park while out running errands
A gran who went into town to run some errands was left horrified when she was fined £170 – for staying 65 seconds too long in the car park.
Angela Jones, 60, had been out to collect some photographs and pulled her Nissan Juke into Kings Heath High Street car park in Birmingham. After realising one of the ticket machines was broken, a fellow driver told her she would need to scan a QR code to pay on an app on her phone.
The nan tried downloading the app but became suspicious it was a scam so deleted it from her phone and left the car park on October 26. A week later, she was slapped with a £100 fine from Parking Charge Collections Ltd (PCC), saying she had exceeded the five-minute time limit.
Security cameras captured her pulling into the car park at 15:23:45 and leaving at 15:29:50 – 65 seconds over the limit.
Angela, from Alvechurch, Worcester, appealed the fine, but it was rejected and then increased to £170. She said: “The day before I went to the town I’d done online training at work on how to spot a QR code scam. When the car park sign said I needed to scan a QR code I did so but the app wasn’t the same as a the car park sign so I was suspicious.
“I immediately deleted the app and left the car park. I never thought in a million years that I’d be fined for trying to do the right thing. I’ve never been in trouble before – I was always brought up to be honest. I couldn’t afford to pay the fine, my wages don’t even cover my bills and that causes me enough stress.
“It almost finished me off”, she added. Angela, who has three jobs including working as a veterinary receptionist, took her fight to the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). Her plea was rejected a second time because she failed to correctly verify her email address with the IAS.
After receiving a letter from solicitors acting on behalf of PCC demanding payment, Angela said she felt “intimidated” to pay up.
Angela, who has five grown-up children and one granddaughter, said: “It affected my mental health greatly and left me in the position where I was so scared that I paid it before any legal action was taken. I was waking up in the night, terrified there would be bailiffs knocking at me door. I had to borrow the money from a friend which was humiliating.”
Angela contacted her MP Bradley Thomas who contacted the trade association for private parking firms, the International Parking Community (IPC). After several weeks of letters being exchanged, her fine was eventually cancelled. Mr Thomas, Conservative MP or Bromsgrove, said: “I’m really pleased that Angela’s parking charge has been cancelled. I know this unfortunate saga caused her a great deal of stress and worry.”
Angela is still waiting to receive a full refund and the IPC said it is working to ensure private car parks do not hand out similar fines. A spokesperson for the IPC said: “We are pleased that this case has resolved itself with the cancellation of the parking charge and a full refund.
“This outcome underscores the importance of providing thorough information to the operator when lodging an appeal. Had full information and evidence been provided at the outset we are confident this matter could have been resolved more swiftly. We strongly encourage anyone dissatisfied with an operator’s appeal decision to escalate their case to the independent adjudicator.”
