A local woman is looking to warn other motorists after she received a parking charge notice (PCN) with £60 fine (discounted from £100 if paid within 14 days) days after parking and paying in Alexander Street car park, Ballymena.
The PCN was issued to Victoria McCullough by private company Smart Parking Ltd.
Based in England, the company letter urged the receiver ‘do not ignore, included a photo of the woman’s car, and stated she entered the car park at 11:34 and left at 12:58, 1 hour and 24 minutes later.
However Victoria had paid for parking using her bank card and has evidence that she paid £2, which according to the tariff sign, covers parking up to 2 hours.
Victoria commented:
“Thankfully I paid by card and I can show my bank transaction of £2 for up to 2 hours on my banking app.
“To ensure I got this correct, I went to the carpark at Alexander Street yesterday evening (27 April) to ensure I had paid the correct amount for the hours, which thankfully I had.”
She is now disputing the charge with Smart Parking Ltd.
Victoria continued: “I am extremely concerned for the residents of Ballymena who may use this car park and don’t pay by card.
“They might get caught out by false claims like this as I’m sure no one keeps their parking tickets for weeks.”
Privately-owned Alexander Street car park moved to an automated payment system in March this year, with machines and cameras replacing Ballymena man Billy Glover.
Billy had worked as the attendant at the town centre car park for 12 years, and many people took to social media to pay tribute to him when news broke of the change at the facility.
You can find further advice about PCN from private parking companies by visiting The Consumer Council website at the link below: