This morning I took the children and one of L's friends to the cinema to catch the £1 KisdAM showing of "Tangled" at the Grafton Centre Vue cinema. Failing to find a free space along Harvest Way (beside the allotments) I parked in a Pay & Display bay along St Matthew's Street. Being the considerate driver I am I parked at the very end of the almost empty bay to make best use of the space available.
On returning I only spotted the ticket as I pulled away. It says I parked in a restricted area during prescribed hours. That was very curious as the PCN was issued some 90 minutes before the displayed parking ticket expired. The only reason I could imagine an enforcement officer issuing a PCN is because they considered the car to be just over the marked bay limit.
Even if this were the case (and there is no evidence it is) the vehicle would have been no more than a couple of inches over the line, in an empty bay with a valid parking ticket displayed. Where there is clearly no evidence of intent to avoid payment or cause an obstruction it would take an organisation of supreme mendacity, vindictiveness and lack of proportion to issue a ticket in these circumstances.
Oh...
I spotted one of these parking enforcement officers and demanded to know if he'd issued me a ticket. He claimed not to have done so and couldn't say why one might have been issued.
There is no picture on the Cambs County Council parking ticket page so I still have no idea what the PCN was issued for. They couldn't even get all the details correct on the form. The expiry date of the car's tax disc is wrong.
I have submitted my challenge.
