Bury St Edmunds resident infuriated after receiving five different parking fines

A Bury St Edmunds resident has been left infuriated after receiving five separate parking fines which he believes is unfair.

Max Basford, of Bishops Road, has received five penalty charge notices (PCNs) for adjudged incorrect parking within the last two months.

On two occasions he returned to his car to find two tickets there, on August 9 and September 23, and a single ticket on another, September 11.

Mr Basford believes the reasoning behind the issuing of the tickets is improper and that West Suffolk Council has been unfair.

However, the council maintains that appropriate action was taken and due process will be followed in accordance with its published guidance.

Mr Basford said: “I was angry after receiving one ticket, so you can imagine how beside myself I was after receiving number four and five.

“The first three tickets I realised, after emailing the council, were because my parking permit slipped down by half an inch so that the vehicle registration wasn't visible.

“You could still clearly see the parking zone and valid date, however, the reason given to me was Code 19.”

Code 19 states a person is liable for a fine for being ‘parked in a residents’ or shared use parking place or zone displaying an invalid permit, an invalid voucher, or an invalid pay and display ticket.’

Mr Basford has a valid Zone A parking permit which he pays for yearly.

He continued: “Had I received a polite note on my car informing me that the parking wardens needed to see the vehicle registration, I would have rectified the issue instantly.

“Instead, they gave me vague, untrue reasons as for the ticket, only infuriating me further.”

Mr Basford’s two other fines were from an alleged suspended bay, and he said that when he parked in that bay, on Blomfield Street, he did not see any signs informing him that the bay was suspended, something another resident also experienced issues with.

He says that if the signs were there in good time, they were not fit for purpose, they were in a position that was easy to miss and furthermore, when similar signs had been in place previously a large, brightly coloured A-frame sign would be positioned on the pavement.

Mr Basford is disillusioned by the actions of the council and the difficulty of parking in the town centre, saying: “Stop robbing us; it's already a joke that there are probably twice as many, if not more, parking permits than there are spaces.

“I spend enough of my life driving around the whole of Parking Zone A trying to find a legal place to park to spend time contesting unwarranted tickets.”

Mr Basford has appealed all of his tickets and has made it clear in his appeals that he is willing to go through all the stages of the process and will not be paying any of them.

He has also not yet received a decision from the council on any of the tickets, with the first appeal lodged on August 9.

A spokesperson for West Suffolk Council said: “We have received several informal appeals from the resident, and we have replied to acknowledge receipt of this.

“A decision will be made based on our published cancellation guidance in due course.

“There is currently a delay in responding to informal appeals due to previous system issues, however the case will remain on hold until a response is provided back to the resident.”

The council said that it does not use A boards for suspensions and never have, as well as having time stamped photos of the parking suspension notices being put up.