Father faces court after not paying free car park's fine
A driver faces court after he accidentally hit zero instead of the letter O while attempting to park for free.
Dad-of-two Jamie Lewis was outraged to receive a £60 fine at Erith Shopping Centre after the mistake.
The 31-year-old was parked for under an hour in the south east London car park and is now being hauled through court after refusing to pay.
Jamie Lewis was fined at the south London shopping centre for typing in the wrong figure in a machine at the free car park
He told The Sun Online he accidentally typed YB09VA0 instead of YB09VAO while he was shopping.
'I got a letter in the post about the fine, but I thought there must have just been a mistake,' he said.
'I lodged an appeal and sent off a picture of my ticket.
'But because I typed zero rather than the letter O into the machine there, the parking firm came back and said it was my fault.
'Since then I have been threatened with legal action and contacted around five times in the post.
'The fine is probably ten times more now.
'It's annoying because I've never had anything like this before and when you see that brown envelope come through the door you just think, "oh no what's this?"
'I was only parking for free for around an hour and then suddenly was being told to pay £60.'
The HGV driver said he had no idea about the fine until he found it on his doormat.
Then the fine was raised to £160 by car park managers Smart Parking Limited in what the firm said was 'common sense approach' to reviewing appeals.
But Mr Lewis still refuses to cough up, choosing to fight it out in court instead.
The dispute, which started on May 21, left him determined to prove something to the 'money grabbing' firm.
'I am ignoring it now because it is just not worth my time,' he said.
'If it comes to it I will go to court. I won't just stand by while they whack me with a £60 fine because of something like this.
'They need to have some common sense.
'It's been very frustrating for me, and I can imagine distressing for anyone else forced to pay for one tiny mistake.
'I am worried about the court action and the fine because I have a family to support, but let's see what the court has to say.'
He risks court costs on top of the fine if the ruling favours the company.
His fight follows grandmother Sylvia Bradford, 70, being hit with a £60 charge for legally parking her vehicle in the same free car park.
She made the same error as Mr Lewis when she too pressed the letter O rather than a zero on the machine, which has pale yellow letters placed on a silver background.
Smart Parking Limited also refused to retract her fine after she lodged a complaint.
Ms Bradford will face paying out £100 if her appeal is refused by the ombudsman.
'My husband blew his fuse,' she said. 'This really does take the biscuit. It seems ridiculous. It’s common sense.'
Smart Parking Limited's website says: 'Smart Parking has gained a vast amount of experience over many years of handling parking related appeals.
'It goes without saying that each appeal is individually assessed by a trained appeals assessor, who will review not only the site rules, but will apply a common sense approach.
'If your appeal is refused, in order to avoid any further action you should pay the full PCN within 14 days.'
A spokesman from the British Parking Association, which includes Smart Parking Limited as a member, said: 'We would strongly advice motorists to follow the independent appeals process rather than choosing to ignore parking fines.
'There is no cost to go to Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) to help with your case.
'Taking it to court is much more likely to occur costs.'