A disabled pensioner from Trinant has had the £200 parking fine he received after falling asleep in a McDonald’s car park rescinded.
Caerphilly Observer first reported how John Colliver, 71, was slapped with a £100 fine after an early morning breakfast at the franchise’s Blackwood Restaurant.
The diabetic and his friend Anthony Allcock approached the restaurant’s manager who promised to deal with issue.
But Mr Colliver, who runs an animal shelter, received a court letter stating he still owed the £100 charge and was ordered to pay another £100 in court costs.
Now both have charges have been voided.
Mr Colliver said: “I sent the the £100 fine away on Friday and had it back on the Tuesday.
“The lady from McDonald’s said they would get the court order rescinded as well so that’s good all round.
“She said it never should have gone so far.”
Anthony Allcock received a letter from ParkingEye Ltd, who run the car park, saying they had contacted the court and would not press any charges.
He said: “It’s a perfect result. It’s great for John.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson said: “In instances where a customer feels that a Parking Charge Notice has been issued in error, we ask that they follow the procedure outlined by the ticket issuer to make an appeal.
“It is with regret that in this case the customer did not appeal the charge notice and did not respond on the several occasions he was sent notifications by the ticket issuer on this matter. We were therefore unaware of his case until court action had been taken.
“The fine has since been cleared and we have informed the customer that should the situation arise again he must contact the ticket issuer to appeal it.”
Why was it rescinded?
Disabled or not disabled, he broke the parking rules in staying too long and should be fined accordingly.
Yes Dean I agree with you, but it appears after years of campaigning to get equal rights for disabled people they can get off a parking fine for being diabetic, yes I realise diabetes is a serious illness which can develop through eating a poor diet and should not be taken lightly but would a young man sleeping off his Big Mac and fries in his Vauxhall Corsa have had his parking fine rescinded….I think not.
A great minor victory for a potentially vulnerable member of the community. I believe that some local authories have voted to ban these devices on their own premises/mobile ones. A very cynical way to make money in my opinion. Even Macdonalds recognised that on this occasion the right thing to do was waiver the charge. Maybe if Mr Colliver had remonstrated sooner it would not have come to this.
As an aside – he appears to be parking on double yellows!
So – if only the old codger had followed the proper procedure, if would never have got to court and he would never have been threatened with a fine.