A woman has been served a £100 charge by a parking firm – even though she says the ticket machine was in Welsh and she could not change the language settings.
Freelance journalist Claire Hannah, 53, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, said her ‘lovely’ day trip to Betws-y-Coed, north Wales, turned into a nightmare.
She visited the picturesque village in the Snowdonia National Park with her sister on March 9.
The 53-year-old told MailOnline: ‘It’s very pretty, beautiful place. Parked in a lovely car park outside a lovely church.
‘I went to the machine but had trouble getting a ticket as it kept malfunctioning; plus, everything was in Welsh and seemed impossible to switch languages or do much else.’
So, I simply purchased a ticket, showed it on my windshield, and we set out, meandering through Betws-y-Coed, along the river, stopping at a pub, visiting some nearby stores, doing various things. We returned to the car afterward and headed home—a wonderful day indeed.
However, roughly 10 days afterward, on March 18, her pleasant recollections of her Welsh excursion were shattered when she was issued a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) by the company overseeing the area.
Initial Parking charged her £100, on a 28-day deadline, for not paying for her time in the car park. After she provided evidence she bought a ticket, it was reduced to £20 – but this time for not keying in her registration number correctly.
Ms. Hannah was unaware that drivers needed to input their registration number, and upon examining the image of the parking machine that Initial Parking provided, there appears to be no evident section for this task.
She stated, “I wasn’t aware of my mistake since, in my view, I had a valid ticket clearly visible on the dashboard.”
‘I had absolutely no idea. You’d assume that having a ticket visible on your dashboard would be enough?’
The first notification Miss Hannah got stated that the £100 fee would be lowered to £60 – ‘such an incredible discount,’ Miss Hannah remarked with humor – provided she made the payment within 14 days.
She filed an appeal based on the fact that she was certain she had purchased a ticket—money had been deducted from her bank account for this purpose. She provided proof of both these facts to the company.
However, this appeal was denied just two days afterward — but currently, due to the claim that she incorrectly entered her registration number into the device.
She was unaware of the requirement to input anything because the machine was in Welsh, coupled with the absence of any signage directing her to do so.
The fee was subsequently lowered to £20 as punishment for making a significant data entry mistake.
She ultimately decided to pay the £20 fee – which is five times the initial parking cost of £4 – simply to put an end to the entire situation: “I’m irritated with myself for giving in and paying it.”
“For me, once it reached £20, it ceased being an issue of money; it became more about the principle. Since I had purchased a ticket and they were hinting at involving a debt collection agency if I didn’t settle my bill,” she stated—these warnings appeared in multiple exchanges viewed by MailOnline.
Miss Hannah wasn’t alone in her struggle with the ticket machine that day; several individuals were also fumbling around with it. It would be interesting to find out how many others managed to get their tickets that day.
‘It wouldn’t go from Welsh to English. So, I was actually quite proud of myself when the ticket came out, proud because I’d got a ticket in the Welsh language!
I thought, ‘Even though I didn’t get it, I somehow managed to grab a ticket! Look at me go!’
Initially, Parking sent her an image of the ticket machine located in the mentioned parking lot to support their claim that there was a functional button available for changing the language settings.
However, this image dates back to November of last year—while Ms. Hannah’s encounters with the machinery occurred several months afterward.
Miss Hannah stated, “‘Many individuals would be intimidated by a letter stating, ‘$100!'”
And look at this £100 bill when everyone’s broke, right? Then it drops to £60, then down to £20, and suddenly you’re thinking, ‘Just £20.’ But have you noticed how many folks say, ‘Only £20’? That approach is quite sneaky.
Her nightmarish experience with parking means she won’t return to Betws-y-Coed to avoid going through a similarly distressing situation again.
She stated, “If this is how you treat both residents and guests, I doubt it’s a positive experience. We contributed to your local economy.”
She noted that on Trustpilot, the company averages just one star from approximately 500 reviews: “This has deterred many individuals from returning to any such place.”
A representative for Initial Parking informed MailOnline: “The process to switch the language from Welsh to English is outlined in the instructions located on the insert attached to each machine just beside the payment screen—once the driver pushes the ‘gray flag button,’ the interface will shift to English.”
As explicitly mentioned on the sizable BPA (BritishParkingAssociation) authorized signs situated beside the payment kiosks, drivers must input their complete and accurate vehicle registration number when paying for parking.
According to the driver’s statement, they paid for parking spot “Y1.” However, this violated the car park’s rules and regulations.
None of these individuals are listed on the motorist’s vehicle registration; hence, it wasn’t feasible to connect this transaction to their vehicle. As a result, issuing a parking charge notice was done appropriately.
‘Upon receipt of the motorist’s appeal, as per the Single Code of Practice, we offered a reduced fee of £20.00 in line with the codes guidance on Major Keying Errors.
The driver paid £20.00 and the case has been marked as closed in our system.
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