First of many refunds in Sunderland

Why, when Jimmy rang up to complain about the ticket, wasn't he immediately told that there had been a mistake and the ticket would be cancelled.
Sunderland Council have already said that tickets issued after they became aware in November 2003 that they were unlawfully issued, were issued by 'incorrectly trained' wardens. However, it appears from this that the enforcement regime at Parking Services continued to lie and further obtained money by deception.
The more this shambles continues the more evidence of this deceitful behaviour by Sunderland City Council and NCP will be uncovered.

Sunderland Echo
Saturday August 27th 2005

Refund just the ticket for Jimmy
GRANDAD Jimmy Conway was thrilled when he received an unexpected refund on his doormat.
Jimmy, who has 10 grandchildren, had given up the parking fine as a "bad loss" after he was given a £30 fine for parking in a taxi bay in Southwick a year ago.Now the 59-year-old former Army physical training instructor is one of the first of 700 motorists to receive a refund after a blunder by traffic bosses at Sunderland Council.Bosses admitted last week that they had no authority to issue the tickets because they do not have the correct legal orders in place to enforce parking restrictions in taxi ranks.

Mr Conway, of Broadsheath Terrace, Southwick, is a disabled driver and holds the necessary badge, which he displays in the front window of his Ford Escort.He suffers from the lung wasting disease emphysema, which he claims was caused by his service in the Gulf War of 1991.

He said: "I got the ticket about a year ago when I was shopping at Southwick Green."There was a taxi in the disabled parking bay near Kwik Save waiting for a customer so I just pulled up behind it. I never even gave a thought about it being a taxi rank."

Mr Conway says he only spent about 10 minutes shopping but returned to find a parking ticket on the windscreen of his Escort."I was fuming, absolutely fuming," he said. "I had my blue badge on display so the parking attendant could see it."But they paid absolutely no attention to me whatsoever. It was as if I wasn't there."Mr Conway then contacted the council to protest about his ticket but decided not to take the matter to an appeal after being told why he had been fined.

But after hearing about the blunder, which was reported by The Echo on Wednesday last week, he rang the council again and found out his was one of 700 tickets issued in error."I was just elated," Mr Conway said. "I really felt I'd won. I'm just so pleased they were proven wrong."But I'm disgusted with the whole situation. I feel the council is getting money for absolutely nothing."I know the wardens are only doing their job but half the time they look at you as if you're nobody."

Sunderland Council estimates it will have to pay back about £21,000 in fines issued wrongly.
27 August 2005