A driver is refusing to pay a parking fine as she had bought a ticket - but with the wrong time printed on it.
Jacquie Wright parked in Evesham’s Riverside car park on November 24 as she needed to attend an opticians appointment in town.
But she was later hit with a £100 fine by Euro Car Parks, despite paying £2 for a ticket.
“The letter says I entered the car park at 11.56am, which sounds about right as I had an appointment at Specsavers at midday,” said Ms Wright.
The letter says Ms Wright left the car park at 1.09pm and that “no valid pay and display/permit was purchased”.
“I had paid the £2 fee,” she said. “But when I checked the ticket the time on it was 3.01pm, which wasn’t possible because I was at the market in Broadway at that time.
“And the machine had only printed off the last three digits of my reg number.
“I posted on Facebook about it and loads of people have commented with their own stories about parking at Riverside.
“A lot of them are very similar to mine and this seems to have been going on for a while. It’s about time this was brought to light.”
Ms Wright, who lives in Evesham, said she has tried to speak to Euro Car Parks on the phone and has used the appeals section of the company’s website, without success.
One person commenting on Ms Wright’s post on the Evesham Noticeboard Facebook group said they paid the required amount at the shopping centre car park but the machine failed to register the first four digits of his number plate.
He was forced to pay a fine even after proving he had paid the original charge.
Another Facebook user said his wife received a fine after a ticket showed the right time but the wrong date.
Others warned people not to ignore parking charges, even if you don’t intend to pay them, because you can end up with county court judgements (CCJs) and expensive trips to court.
“I am worried about it going to court,” said Ms Wright, “but there’s no way I’m going to pay it - I will fight this to the end.”
We have contacted Euro Car Parks for a response.
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