Man claims Leighton Buzzard parking ticket ‘unfair’ as car window frosted over

Peter White, 63, from Alton, Hampshire, stayed at The Swan Hotel with his wife on the night of January 17, paying for an overnight space in Duncombe Drive.

The couple were heading to Luton Airport the following morning, but on returning to the car park they found an unwelcome £50 penalty charge notice from Central Bedfordshire Council.

Peter, who describes the rush t0 the airport that ensued as “stressful”, said: “It would seem that overnight the windscreen had iced over, meaning our ticket could not be viewed easily.

“Many thoughts about the parking attendant’s actions spring to mind, but leaving those aside, my assumption is that he or she is required to reach a certain quota of issued tickets before they can finish their shift. It is difficult to see what other incentive there could be for issuing erroneous tickets?”

Once he had returned from his holiday, Peter wrote to CBC and refused to pay because he claims “the warden made no effort to clear the screen”.

The fine has since been cancelled, but Peter alleges that the CBC letter confirming the cancellation contained “no apology” and seemed to imply some fault on his part.

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokesman, said: “As the penalty charge notice (PCN) clearly states, our officer had ‘reason to believe’ an offence had been committed as no parking ticket was visible.

“The PCN also makes clear how a driver can challenge a penalty charge if, as in this case, there was a valid parking ticket.”

Have you had a similar experience? Email: [email protected]