Council returns £30 parking fine
A MOTORIST refunded a £30 parking fine claims town hall bosses should now pay back more than £6.3 million.
Parking bosses handed back the fine to Jim Keiller to allow him to appeal against a ticket he says was unlawful because it did not include the correct date and details of the time of the alleged offence.
Mr Keiller was booked outside Bolton Library after failing to display a disabled badge clock showing the time he and wife June, whose multiple sclerosis has left her blind, parked their car.
But the 60-year-old, of Eatock Way, Westhoughton, claims the ticket was unlawful because it included only the date and time of issue and not the date and time of contravention.
Mr Keiller claims Bolton Council should now refund 222,360 tickets it has issued since it took control of parking enforcement in 2000, amounting to more than £6.3 million.
The council disputes his claim. However, it changed its tickets to include both times just eight days after Mr Keiller received his ticket on August 15 last year.
Its move followed a High Court ruling on August 2 against Barnet Council, which had also been issuing tickets with only one of the two dates.
Mr Keiller wrote to the Local Government Ombudsman after the council refused to overturn the fine and was told he could appeal to first the council and then the National Parking Adjudication Service. The council then refunded his £30 to allow the appeal.
Mr Keiller said: "We were only parked on the double yellow lines for 12 minutes but my wife slipped getting out of the car. Maybe I did not display the clock correctly but my wife was my first priority."
He explained this when he paid the fine but was told it could not be rescinded.
"It's all about money and sticking tickets on as many cars as possible," he said. "Even after a judge deemed this kind of ticket illegal they refused to budge so I will now fight this to the bitter end."
Mr Keiller is being supported by parking campaigner Neil Herron.
He said anyone with a ticket issued before August 23 should be allowed to appeal on the same grounds.
"The council acknowledged its tickets were unlawful by changing them and now it is trying to defend the indefensible," he said.
A Bolton Council spokesman said: "Bolton Council has chosen to exercise its discretion and allow Mr Keiller to make further representations.
"The council does not accept that on the back of the Local Government Ombudsman's letter and the Barnet case that 222,360 tickets could be invalid and potentially have to be refunded."
Source: This is Lancashire (24/07/2007)
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