Student Creates Parking Ticket Appeal Website After Receiving 30 Fines In Nine Months

A student plagued by persistent parking fines has launched an appeal website to help other drivers.

Joshua Browder created donotpay.co.uk after receiving 30 fines in just nine months, and says it will let disgruntled drivers fight fines in a matter of seconds.

The free site lets users choose from a list of reasons why they shouldn’t be expected to pay their fine. Then, after adding a few more details, they receive an appeal letter adapted to their unique circumstances.

Pic: Joshua Browder - the young entrepreneur will soon be studying at Stanford University

The 18-year-old entrepreneur from North London came up with the idea after picking up repeated tickets in the Camden area for “trivial” reasons.

He tells Mashable: “I have had to spend around one hundred hours of valuable study time writing appeals to these tickets, many of which have been successful.

"I have come to realise that councils issue tickets first and ask questions later. Unfortunately, many recipients of these tickets don’t have the time, legal knowledge or energy to appeal.”

The bright lad is about to begin an economics and computer science degree at the prestigious Stanford University in the US.

Before creating the service, he read thousands of pages of documents released under the Freedom of Information Act and consulted a leading traffic lawyer.

“The site not only saves time, but also ensures that drivers have the best possible chance of winning their appeals,” adds Bowder.

(Parking ticket pic: Elizabeth Ellis/Flickr)