Driver stunned after entire car park is ticketed with £70 fines by council after blunder
DRIVERS were stunned after a council blunder saw every car in a busy railway station car park slapped with fines.
Yellow parking tickets were posted on all cars parked at High Wycombe station in morning rush hour – prompting bemusement and outrage online after a motorist shared a photo.
Council chiefs have now issued an apology, after admitting they were to blame – and vowed to refund anyone affected.
Buckinghamshire county council admitted they should have made it more clear that only part of the car park was meant to be closed for refurbishment.
A picture of car after car carrying yellow Penalty Charge Notices on their windscreens was posted on Reddit, with the caption: “Parking warden at High Wycombe Station made his bonus today.”
High Wycombe resident Heleen Jalvingh was among those who mistakenly bought a parking ticket via an app, unaware of any notices about the car park’s intended closure.
It was only later that she saw on Facebook a picture of an A4-sized sign “somewhere on the car park”.
Ms Jalvingh, 48, said: “But I have not seen this and the rest of the car park apparently didn’t either, as we all returned to High Wycombe to find a yellow plastic envelope stuck on our windscreen.
“This was obviously extremely disappointing, as we had done our duty by paying for the car park.
“To basically see all the cars with a fine does make me think that this has been a matter of poor communication by the council as apparently nobody realised that we were not allowed to park here.”
The council has now admitted its own error in closing the entire car park rather than merely the one area being worked on to add new electric vehicle charging bays.
Councillor Steven Broadbent, cabinet member for transport, said: “We want to apologise to the people who parked at Railway Place and Duke Street car parks in High Wycombe this week and who received parking tickets during a closure of the car park.
“Whilst we do enforce parking across the county, these tickets should not have been issued and we will be reversing the parking tickets to everyone who received them,
“Only a small number of parking bays should have been closed to install brand new EV charging bays rather than the whole car park and we did not give out customers enough notice of this action.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience and upset caused.
“Anyone who has been ticketed should take no further action as the notices will be cancelled and anyone who has already paid the PCN charge will be refunded.”
Online readers were left baffled by the blunder.
One commenter on Reddit said of the parking warden: “You’d think after doing a line of them he/she would realise that maybe something is up with their system.”
Another posted: “Was just there. The parking is suspended and no one has paid any attention. Hence the tickets.”
The photo also prompted someone to joke: “Eight in a row is a jackpot right?”