Grandmother hit with huge £170 parking fine - for staying 65 seconds too long
Grandmother hit with huge £170 parking fine - for staying 65 seconds too long
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A gran who went into town to run some errands was left horrified when she was fined £170 - for staying 65 seconds too long in the car park. Angela Jones, 60, had been out to collect some photographs and pulled her Nissan Juke into Kings Heath High Street car park in Birmingham. After realising one of the ticket machines was broken, a fellow driver told her she would need to scan a QR code to pay on an app on her phone.
The nan tried downloading the app but became suspicious it was a scam so deleted it from her phone and left the car park on October 26. A week later, she was slapped with a £100 fine from Parking Charge Collections Ltd (PCC), saying she had exceeded the five-minute time limit.
Security cameras captured her pulling into the car park at 15:23:45 and leaving at 15:29:50 - 65 seconds over the limit. Angela, from Alvechurch, Worcester, appealed the fine, but it was rejected and then increased to £170. She said: “The day before I went to the town I’d done online training at work on how to spot a QR code scam. When the car park sign said I needed to scan a QR code I did so but the app wasn’t the same as a the car park sign so I was suspicious.
“I immediately deleted the app and left the car park. I never thought in a million years that I’d be fined for trying to do the right thing. I’ve never been in trouble before – I was always brought up to be honest. I couldn’t afford to pay the fine, my wages don’t even cover my bills and that causes me enough stress.
