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Abbey Wood commuter with £0 parking ticket gets chased up for non-existent fine

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Web Admin:
Abbey Wood commuter with £0 parking ticket gets chased up for non-existent fine[/size]

 A BEMUSED Abbey Wood commuter was wrongly slapped with a £0 parking ticket - then chased up for the non-existent fine weeks later.

Josh Woodley, 40, had to laugh because her silver Ford Focus was ticketed in New Road, Abbey Wood, despite her having paid £3.80 to park via text.

The garment technologist thought nothing more of it until she received a letter from Bexley Council on January 15 demanding she pay her £0 fine.

The mother-of-one says she only parked where she did before heading to Abbey Wood to station catch a train to work on November 27, because the Crossrail development has made it difficult for commuters to find spaces.

 She told News Shopper: "I got back to my car at about 7.30pm to find a yellow envelope stuck to my windscreen.

"At first I was furious because I knew I had paid but when I actually looked at it, it had ‘no pounds, no pence’ on it.

"There is a part of me that wants to send a cheque to them for no pounds, no pence but I don’t want to waste a stamp."

Mrs Woodley, of Milford Close, Abbey Wood, added: "There’s obviously nothing in their computer system which recognised there was a fault there.

"For me it’s not a major issue – it’s actually hilarious.

 "I don’t know how much it costs them to post these things – they could be better using the funds for more important things."

Contractors NSL employ parking attendants on behalf of Bexley Council.

A council spokeswoman said: "A new parking scheme was operating in New Road, Abbey Wood, and as standard practice, warning notices carrying a zero charge were being issued at that time.

"However, in this particular instance, our records confirm a parking session had been arranged and paid for via mobile phone.

"Therefore, the notice was issued in error and has been closed. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to the motorist.

"Due to the error, a penalty will be imposed against NSL in accordance with our contract provisions with them."

An NSL spokeswoman said: "Mistakes are rare but sometimes they are made and we are penalised for them."

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/10968017.Abbey_Wood_commuter_with___0_parking_ticket_gets_chased_up_for_non_existent_fine/

The Bald Eagle:
A council spokeswoman said "Due to the error, a penalty will be imposed against NSL in accordance with our contract provisions with them."

Shortly after making this statement the local fire brigade were summoned to council offices to deal with a small blaze that had broken out in the area of the council spokeswoman's gluteus maximus and which threatened to turn into a major bush fire if allowed to spread.

Ewan Hoosami:
If paid within fourteen days the charge will be reduced to absolutely f :o ck all after which it will revert back to £0.0p. If your representations are rejected the discounted rate of absolutely f :o ck all may be re-offered to encourage you to promptly not pay anything. You may then appeal to PATAS who are likely to reject your appeal because the council is never wrong. A charge of bugger all will then be added to the money you don't owe us and we will pursue you vigorously until we are not paid.

You would think a multi-million pound industry would attract better than this.

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