Welling man Pete Skinner slams Bexley Council for "incorrect" Bexleyheath parking ticket
10:19am Monday 23rd April 2012 in Where I Live By Kelly Smale
Pete Skinner
A WELLING man has slammed Bexley Council for wasting his "time and money" claiming he was wrongly issued a parking ticket.
Pete Skinner is a self-employed central heating engineer and on Thursday (April 19) at around 9am he attended a customer's home in Harding Road, Bexleyheath.
He says he parked in a bay and put a parking permit in the kerbside window on the driver's side.
Mr Skinner, of Selwyn Crescent, told News Shopper: "The customer checked I had scratched off the relevant pieces properly on the permit and displayed it correctly."
When he left the property around two hours later he was shocked to find a £110 parking ticket for not "clearly displaying a valid permit or voucher or pay and display ticket issued for that place".
Mr Skinner, 58, said: "I am trying to run a business and cannot afford to spend my valuable time challenging these incorrect penalty charge notices."
He added: "It drives you mad. They rely on the fact that it costs me more to contest and they hope I'll just pay up.
"Is this very different to somebody trying to mug me in the street?"
The same thing happened to Mr Skinner two years ago but the fine was cancelled after he appealed.
He said: "I received no apology or compensation, just a curt note saying they would not prosecute.
"These people refuse to take any responsibility for their actions. They need to be stopped."
A council spokeswoman said: “The motorist has not yet submitted an informal challenge against the issue of the penalty charge - as is required in the regulations - so we cannot comment.
“The Council does not consider it appropriate to discuss matters related to penalty charges in the media that have not yet been resolved through the correct and proper process, as this may bring the entire system into disrepute and undermines the principles of a statutory process.”
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