Judge enforces parking penalty in landmark case

A Rochdale man has been made to pay a parking charge after parking his car on private land at St Andrew's Church in Littleborough following a landmark court case.

Oldham County Court heard the case of Combined Parking Solutions (CPS) versus Stephen Thomas, of Chadwick Street.

Last November Mr Thomas, 26, was issued a penalty notice of £85 by CPS, who acted on behalf of their client, St Andrew's Church. The fine would be reduced to £65 if it was paid promptly.

Mr Thomas received the fine after parking on the church's private car park without a permit. He admitted that he was the registered owner of the vehicle and that he had parked on the car park before.

He said he could not remember whether he was driving the car on the occasion that the ticket was issued and that he had not seen the signs that warned drivers not to park without a permit.

Mr Thomas visited online communities and advice boards, which have been setup to give advice to drivers in order to evade parking fines.

The forums had always stated that a properly defended case would never fail and this case would highlight the illegal nature of these charges.

The forums advise people to ignore these charges and never to contact the companies as they are 100% certain no action will ever take place.

Mike Perkins, from CPS, said that Mr Thomas had posted on a consumer internet site outlining the incident and asking for help on the day that he was issued with the charge.

Mr Perkins also claimed Mr Thomas modified the original wording of his post when he was informed the matter would be brought to court.

Mr Thomas admitted that he had written a post but could not remember what he had written. He did not admit that he was the driver of the car in court but District Judge Ackroyd decided that on the balance of probabilities he was and declared that Mr Thomas did not have to have seen the warning signs, only that they were present.

The case was awarded to CPS and Mr Thomas will now pay a £135 charge with £1.86 interest, as well as a £25 listing fee, £25 hearing fee and £68 for Mr Perkins’ mileage and £3.50 for parking.

Mr Perkins said: “This is a landmark hearing.

“Internet sites have always said these are unenforceable penalties. The judge clearly stated a contract was entered into, although the defendant never admitted to being the driver.

“I would warn people from going on these internet sites. If you have a legal question, see a solicitor.”