Parking ticket U-turn 

 In August 2020, Ken McCann from the Isle of Wight got a £100 parking charge notice from Carflow. Ken’s wife had used the Carflow car park a few days earlier at 10.47am, bought a ticket at 10.55am for an hour, and left at 12.03pm. Ken refused to pay the fine, arguing that his wife left the car park within the 10-minute grace period from when the ticket expired. Carflow said the grace period had been exceeded because the parking contract was formed when the car entered at 10.47am. Ken took his case to the Parking on Private Land Appeals service but was unsuccessful, so he contacted Which? for advice

The law

Under section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a company should provide its services with reasonable care and skill, following relevant codes of practice such as giving customers time to consider the contract.

Our advice

We advised Ken that Carflow hadn’t followed its code of practice, which required giving his wife time to consider the contract when arriving and a 10-minute grace period to leave. Ken continued to refute the charge, and Carflow took him to court in January 2021. The judge ruled that the contract only began once the ticket had been purchased, and the grace period had not been exceeded. The fine was dropped.

Carflow said: ‘The motorist paid for an hour, but parked for 1 hour 16 minutes. A parking charge notice was correctly issued. While we disagree with the court’s judgement, we respect it and consider the matter closed.