Battle of the car park trap is worth fighting

With regard to the recent article about the unnecessary payment of parking fines, I would urge motorists to vigorously contest them if they feel they have been made unfairly.

I received a parking ticket for parking beyond the bay markings in what I believed was a legitimate bay in Corngreaves Road car park, Cradley Heath.

This looked to all intents and purposes a legitimate bay and I was not in any way obstructing or encroaching into the adjacent bay. There was no sign or hatching to identify this was not a legitimate parking bay.

I knew that this space was used regularly and therefore felt it was left as an entrapment for the motorist and a regular income generator for the council, or an easy target for the traffic warden, and after receiving my own fine found several law abiding friends and acquaintances had also received fines there in recent months.

I therefore challenged this fine, only to be told that my challenge was unsuccessful, despite urging the council to visit the site.

I again appealed against this outcome, asking once again for the site to be visited and if this was not a legitimate bay for notices to be played there to this effect.

I also requested under the Freedom of Information Act to be given figures of motorists receiving fines at that particular spot. The outcome of this was that my fine was revoked, admitting that the layout does leave some room for misunderstanding, and changes have now been made to the bay indicating that it is indeed a legitimate parking bay, as had been presumed in the past by many unfortunate motorists.

I would therefore urge readers to challenge unfair fines and for the many people who have been fined at the corner of the car park in Corngreaves Road, Cradley Heath, to request a refund of their fine as a precedent has been set.

M R Galligan,

Carol Crescent, Halesowen.