Retired magistrate Clive Sowerby, 78, refused to pay hundreds of pounds in fines to a private parking firm during a legal dispute which began in October 2019. An initial debt of just 50p had spiralled into a £272 demand, which the man said had ‘crippled him’.
The grandfather-of-three was originally served with a County Court Judgement (CCJ) after parking his car in Crown Lane in Stourbridge.
He put £4 in a pay and display machine not realising the cost had just been put up to £4.50.
And some weeks later he received a £60 fine through the post.
Mr Sowerby wrote to the firm explaining his error but they replied in November 2019 telling him the penalty had increased to £160.
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He added: “There was a tree blocking part of the tariff board and another sign about the price rise was just cellotaped to it.
“There was no intention on my part to avoid paying, we spend around £700 a year parking there, we just didn’t notice the price hike
“It has been nice to finally put the parking company in their place and to clear my name.
“But it should also serve as a warning these private parking companies will take motorists to court.”
A spokesperson for Premier Parking Logistics said: “The county court judgement stated to dismiss the CCJ but it still cost him over £200 to set the judgement aside.
“The court ruled that he was not entitled to any expenses which proves we were correct in issuing the judgement.
“We believe the judgement was made in sympathy rather than hard facts, that’s why we were advised not to pay his expenses.
“He initially failed to pay full payment for parking. It is his responsibility to make sure he has paid the full tariff before leaving the car park.
“The charge issued advised he could make payment of £60 or appeal to us or an independent appeals service of which he ignored.
“We also offered the full rate of £100 after this to be paid within 28 days of which he also ignored.
“We advised we would forward the unpaid debt to debt recovery.
“He then corresponded with the debt recovery agent during lockdown and advised them to change his residential address details on file to his business address therefore advised all post to be sent to his business.
“He was aware correspondence was requested to be sent to his business address during lockdown so he was responsible for collecting his mail.”
