Kathryn James, from Romford, has been told by a debt collection agency that she owes £175 for an unpaid fine from last year in Collier Row Road.
She claimed this was despite the fact she had appealed the charge on the grounds the first 30 minutes of parking in the road are free.
According to Ms James, her husband had parked the car, which is registered in her name, while he went shopping on April 19, 2024.
She claims that he had entered the registration details at the ticket machine to validate his free parking but returned less than half-an-hour later to find a traffic warden issuing a fine.
“He went with the traffic warden to the parking machine, put the registration number in again and it showed her the free parking,” she said.
“She took a picture of the screen and attached it to where they have to upload the evidence.”
Ms James said that her husband was told by the traffic warden that he would still have to challenge the fine as it had already been issued.
She claimed that the council initially denied this appeal, telling her husband that only the registered owner of the car could lodge a complaint.
According to Ms James, she then wrote to the local authority herself but did not receive a response over the next 12 months.
Havering Council has said that “there is no evidence that an attempt was made to register for a free parking session” or to challenge the parking ticket at the time.
However, Romford Recorder has seen the picture of the parking machine attached to Ms James’ fine, which suggests that the driver did obtain a free ticket on the day.
The time on the parking machine is 1.13pm, four minutes after the fine was issued. The machine does not show the time at which the driver registered for the free session.
Ms James was recently informed that her case had been escalated to bailiffs, and she now fears being taken to court over the charge.
“What I can’t stand is that they’ve got the evidence from their own system that this shouldn’t have been issued,” she said.
“But now either I have to suck it up and pay something that’s just been escalating financially, or I have to risk putting my principles on the line and getting a criminal conviction.
“It’s absolutely disgusting. You would think they would review the evidence and work through to resolve that with people, rather than taking this punitive way forward.”
A Havering Council spokesperson said that the local authority had refused a recent request to appeal the fine.
They explained: “Following an out-of-time application, the reasons for not following the appeals process were subsequently refused. Therefore, the PCN still stands.
“Residents should ensure that they are properly registered for free parking to avoid a penalty charge.”
