Driver caught by parking rule gets fine cancelled

A driver who managed to get a family member's fine for a parking infringement cancelled said more motorists could see their penalties dropped.

The £70 fine for parking more than 50cm (19.7in) from the kerb in Northampton was scrapped after Richard Smith noticed there was no measuring device in the council's photo of the incident.

After a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, he was told by the council it had issued 350 tickets for the same offence in the last year, bringing in £10,000 in revenue.

West Northamptonshire Council has been asked for a response.

Richard Smith said a family member received the penalty charge after parking in her own street.

Mr Smith said: "She woke up next morning to a ticket on her car and she said, 'What do I do?' And I said, 'I'll appeal it for you.'

"So we appealed it and they turned us down."

The penalty was £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days.

Mr Smith then asked for pictures of the council's evidence of the car being 50cm from the kerb and the council sent some stills, which did not show any measuring device.

Mr Smith added: "If I was producing that evidence, I'd want a tape measure or whatever they use in the picture to prove the offence."

Eventually, a letter came through from West Northamptonshire Council saying the ticket would be cancelled.

Mr Smith made an FOI request to find out how many similar tickets were issued in the last year and how much revenue had been collected as a result.

The response from West Northamptonshire Council showed that 350 PCNs, or Penalty Charge Notices, were issued in the 12 months to April this year, and the council collected £10,000.

Mr Smith hoped his story would encourage some of those 350 drivers to challenge their fines.

He said: "If there are other people that weren't brave enough to do it at the time and have now seen that somebody's got this information and got off the ticket, they might say, 'I'll appeal that.'"

Richard Butler, West Northamptonshire Council's cabinet member for highways, said: "It is standard practice for officers to carry measuring devices to gather evidence where required.

"If any motorist receives a PCN which they believe to be unfair or wish to challenge the issuance, then instructions on how to appeal are on the reverse of the PCN."

Government guidance states that councils must "provide evidence of a contravention either from direct observation or from the record of an approved device".

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