'No-one parks in Hanley for 24 hours' - Driver has £100 parking fine quashed

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A motorist has had his £100 parking fine quashed. Christopher Mason was slapped with the £100 penalty after a camera clocked him on Glass Street car park, in Hanley, at 9.24am on August 8 - and then reversing out of the car park at 10.08am on August 9.

But the 67-year-old says he had simply used the car park entrance to turn around on August 8 after taking his wife into the city centre. Now Christopher, from Fenton, has had the penalty overturned.

Christopher said: "I didn't even enter the car park. I think the whole legislation with car parking needs revamping. I said to them ‘who parks in Hanley for 24 hours, it’s a dump’ - I wouldn't even risk leaving my car in Hanley for 24 hours.

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"I was there because we were picking up holiday money so I dropped my wife off at the end of the road, turned around, and waited for the wife on the pavement outside. The nose of the car didn’t even pass the pillars of the car park entrance - and who reverses out of a car park anyway."

Christopher successfully appealed his fine with the Independent Appeals Service (IAS) after arguing that he had simply turned around in the car park entrance.

The car park is operated by Napier Parking.

Christopher Mason was slapped with the £100 penalty - which has since been quashed - after a camera clocked him on Glass Street car park, in Hanley, at 9.24am on August 8 - and then reversing out of the car park at 10.08am on August 9.
Christopher Mason was slapped with the £100 penalty - which has since been quashed - after a camera clocked him on Glass Street car park, in Hanley, at 9.24am on August 8 - and then reversing out of the car park at 10.08am on August 9.

Its spokesman said: "At the first point Mr Mason raised the matter that he did not use the car park, the case was cancelled. This demonstrates that there is a robust and rigid appeals process in place."

It remains a mystery why there is a 24-hour time lag in Christopher turning into the car park entrance and then reversing out.

The spokesman added: “Napier uses the latest technology in this car park and the type of camera used is the same type as used by police forces across the country. The cameras are linked to the latest parking software. The images do show that the vehicle entered our car park and we have taken Mr Mason's word as fact that he did not use the car park. We are unsure why the system would only have detected the movement forward into the car park on 8 August and only detected the exit read on 9 August and we have not come across such a case previously. It is fair to say this is an unusual manoeuvre having looked at the images. This has been raised. No technology is 100 per cent accurate but we are satisfied that our camera systems are above 99.5 per cent accurate which is industry leading.

“Issuing a parking charge against a motorist is a last resort and only undertaken when there is a strong belief that the terms and conditions have been breached. As was the case here, if a motorist believes that a charge should not have been issued there is a robust appeals process which is free to use. We are pleased in this case that the appeals process worked as intended. Parking charges are necessary to ensure the smooth operation of a car park, for the benefit of users and also in order to protect revenue. Napier does not seek to profit from the issuing of parking charges."

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