Pensioner beats parking company in court after five-year row over £1

A motorist has emerged victorious in a five-year legal wrangle with a major parking firm over a £1 parking ticket. Nigel Richardson, 71, took on Euro Car Parks after being hounded for the £1 debt, which he did not owe as he had paid for his parking.

Back in 2020, Mr Richardson parked his VW Golf in Syston, Leicestershire, but found himself without change and the card payment machines were out of order. He attempted to pay via the mobile phone app, but received no confirmation that the payment had gone through.

Despite writing to the company to explain the situation and suggesting he might owe them a pound, it responded by slapping him with a £100 fine. He later discovered the receipt for his online transaction, believing this would put an end to the matter as it proved he had paid.

However, over the next four years, debt collection agencies began sending him letters threatening court action, and the fines escalated to £230. Undeterred, Mr Richardson stood his ground, even hiring a barrister and representing himself at Leicester County Court on July 11.

The judge agreed that he had been unfairly fined and did not owe any debt, awarding him £200 in compensation. After paying court costs of £180, Mr Richardson is only £20 better off following the five-year ordeal, but as he says: "A win is a win."

Mr Richardson, from Rearsby, said: "The simple thing would have been to just pay the fine but I knew I had done nothing wrong. I made every effort to buy a ticket but their machines weren't accepting card payments and I wasn't going to be bullied into paying the fine.

" When I used the app I had notification the money had come out. I even tried to call a number to do it over the phone but that didn't work either. I went to the shop to try and get change but they were closed early on a Wednesday, so I didn't know what more I could do.

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"I know what these companies can be like so I even contacted them to explain what happened and to see if I could pay the £1 if the app hadn't worked. But the next thing I know a fine comes through and then you have to start an appeals process.

"But then I found the receipt for the £1 which had gone to my junk folder - so I thought great, here's the proof there's no debt to pay. But even when I pointed that out, they said I hadn't raised this at the appeal stage, so they kept on.

"Various debt collection companies and solicitors started sending threatening letters warning about county court proceedings. When I wrote to DCB Legal, who were pursuing the debt, I told them I'd got the receipt now and they said it was up to Euro Car Parks to drop it.

"I wrote to Euro Car Parks and they told me it was up to DCB. DCB said they would see me in court, so I said, 'bring it on' and I launched a counterclaim. I had the bit between my teeth by then and there was no way I was going to give up."

Mr Richardson, a semi-retired former business owner of an interiors company, said the firm later said they would drop the case if he paid £60 and signed a confidentiality agreement. He added: "I said no and I knew at this point they were starting to back down as the next thing I know they were talking about dropping the entire case.

"But after four years and a lot of my time, I thought I was entitled to some compensation so we ended up in court. They offered me £130 but I decided to go to court instead as I had spent many hours writing letters.

"I looked up what a junior barrister charges and its like £100 an hour so I decided to claim for £2,480 which I think was very reasonable as I'd spent about 100 hours representing myself. In court the judge asked the Euro Car Parks barrister why I was being pursued for a debt I didn't owe and he said he 'hadn't been instructed about that'.

"He was fumbling through his documents and looking at his phone for an answer but that was all he could say. In the end the compensation was settled at £200 but after paying £180 costs I only ended up with £20."

He joked: "I had planned to go on a cruise but nevermind, a win is a win and it was all about the principle."

This incident follows last month's revelation that private parking firms issued a staggering 14.4 million tickets to British drivers in the 2024/25 period.