Drivers hit with £170 fines over faulty parking meters

Drivers across England say they are being sent demands for up to 170 from private parking companies because of faulty machines.

- NEIL LANCEFIELD

One campaigner says “thousands” of people have been affected.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander described the issue as “a problem that needs to be tackled”, while the RAC called for a government-backed code of conduct to be reintroduced.

Many car parks require users to input their vehicle registration when purchasing a ticket from a machine.

This is supposed to prevent them from being sent a PCN when their vehicle is detected by automatic number plate recognition cameras.

However, there have been numerous cases of drivers who insist they entered their registration correctly but still received a PCN.

Each had initial appeals rejected, despite submitting a photograph of their ticket, which shows that an incorrect registration was printed.

Matt Chambers, a 35-year-old business owner, received a £100 PCN from Excel Parking after using a car park in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, in February.

He said: “They say I only registered the letter B for my number plate. That’s not right. I’m adamant I put the whole number plate in because I’ve used that car park several times before, and it’s the exact same process every time. I know how to use the machine.”

He said he is continuing to challenge the PCN, but “sometimes it feels easier to pay just to make them go away” even though “I’ve done nothing wrong”.