A lawyer who overturned an “unfair” parking ticket in Llangrannog car park says she is shocked at the number of people who have come forward to say the received unfair fines too.
Sara Powell, from New Quay, received a fine for overstaying in the car park, managed by One Parking Solutions, despite leaving within the time limit of her ticket.
Sara said she parked in Llangrannog car park on Friday, 9 April at 1.30pm. She paid for up to two hours of parking and left the car park at 3.15pm.
However, she was still issued with a £100 parking charge notice for overstaying.
Sara had retained her original ticket and so was able to prove that she did not overstay, and overturned the fine.
But she said many others would not have kept their ticket and said she was “shocked” by the number of people who have also received “unfair fines”.
“I received a fine from them for allegedly overstaying,” Sara explained.
“Fortunately I kept my ticket and as demonstrated by photos, the machine must be faulty.
“This is really serious as I know many people who have been accused of overstaying but haven’t been able to disprove it as they haven’t kept their ticket.
“I put up a Facebook post to alert people and was shocked by the number of people who had received unfair fines, ones they felt they shouldn’t pay.
“I’m a lawyer so familiar with the law and clearly if there is an issue with the machine then this may apply retrospectively.
“For all we know the machine may always have been faulty.
“I’m helping a friend out with her case now as the parking company have now taken her to court so I said I would represent her.”
One Parking Solutions has come in for heavy scrutiny recently.
In September 2019, Ceredigion MP Ben Lake met with “disgruntled” Llangrannog residents who said unfair parking notices were having a negative impact on the community.
The Cambrian News reported, in August 2019, that motorists were receiving fines because the ticket machine did not work and they did not have phone signal to pay via the app or phone.
“What concerns me is how this can be allowed to happen,” Sara added.
“This is not just a civil issue anymore. Who knows how long it has been going on for. In cases such as this there is usually a presumption that the machine is accurate.
“Clearly it is not but how many people have paid a fine because they didn’t keep their ticket?”
One Parking Solutions has been approached for a comment.