Council slammed for couple’s parking ticket treatment

by Richard Evans

A couple in their sixties say they received car parking fines whilst waiting for a replacement parking permit to arrive – despite displaying evidence of the renewal. Steve Cottrell and his partner are both over 60, regularly park at Ruthin’s Dog Lan

A couple in their sixties say they received car parking fines whilst waiting for a replacement parking permit to arrive – despite displaying evidence of the renewal.

Steve Cottrell and his partner regularly park at Ruthin’s Dog Lane Car Park and have written to Denbighshire council to complain about their treatment.

They purchased a parking permit allowing them to park at the long-stay car park in the market town, only for them to receive parking fines, despite displaying evidence the permit had been renewed.

When their parking permit expired in March this year, they initially tried to renew the permit online, but say the website wouldn’t allow the purchase. They then tried to purchase the renewal on the phone on the day the permit expired, but claim were unable to get through to the council call centre.

After finally renewing the permit at one of Denbighshire’s One Stop Shops, the couple say they then displayed the permit registration number while waiting for it to arrive, a system they say was agreed upon in previous years.

Now Mr Cottrell has written to Denbighshire County Council’s chief executive Graham Boase to complain about their treatment.

“My partner was very distressed to find two parking penalty notices on her car,” he said. “In previous conversations with staff at the One Stop Shop, we were advised that, while waiting for the permit to arrive, we should display the permit application reference, and that doing so would prevent us from receiving a parking penalty.

But they say they have since been told differently by the One Stop Shop that they would need to purchase standard parking tickets at a cost of £3.50 per day until the permit arrived in the post.

Mr Cottrell added: “Denbighshire have refused my appeal against these penalties. They appear to feel no responsibility for the impact of their antiquated and incapable processes, their rude staff, and their incorrect and misleading web and One Stop Shop information.

“I understand that Denbighshire are considering a ‘paperless’ permit system, which has yet to be implemented. One cannot help wondering whether income from the current cynical and misleading system means the council are in little hurry to change to a more capable process.

He added: “While touted by The Sunday Times as ‘the best place to live in Wales’, clearly Ruthin is not the best place for older residents who need to avail themselves of the council’s parking facilities.”

A spokeswoman for Denbighshire County Council commented: “Denbighshire County Council does not comment on individual cases.”