Check This You Could Have Your Parking Fine Returned

Saturday, 28. May 2011

Watch out, you’ve been caught, not on Candid Camera but on a parking camera. And if you’ve been caught on a camera mounted in a Smart car and fined, I may have some good new for you, thanks to Nigel Wise who contested a parking penalty issued following photo evidence taken by a camera mounted in a Smart car whilst parked in Powder Mill Lane in Whitton in August 2010. His fine of £100 was cancelled by a parking appeal tribunal after he proved that the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) had not declared the camera on which he was caught an ‘approved device’. Richmond Council in South London have issued thousands of tickets clocking up fines of over £1 million to cars caught on CCTV equipped Smart ForTwo cars since 2009.

The council has now admitted that it is now looking into the possibility that it may have to refund all the fines issued as a result of using these unapproved cameras in the specially adapted Camera Cars.

In an earlier blog post I revealed that there were 54 of these cars operating throughout the UK generating £8 million per annum in fines. It may now seem that not only Richmond but also all other councils using this unapproved equipment may have to refund all their parking fines obtained this way – amazing!

Best you go and check any parking tickets that you received, you may be in for a small windfall. By Graham Hill