Fife Council wins parking appeal

In February 2024, Fife Council, in the Upper Tribunal for Scotland, won a case against Alison MacPherson who received a parking ticket because she entered the wrong license plate number into the parking app RingGo.

Alison parked her car using the app in the Fife Council car park but made a mistake typing her license plate number, omitting a letter, and substituting an 8 for a 9.

Fife Council argued that the ticket purchased by Alison could not be used with her vehicle. As per Fife Council’s Waiting and Loading Restrictions and On-Street Parking Places Consolidation Order 2013, she was required to pay the Penalty Charge Notice.

Initially, a tribunal member thought Alison's evidence of payment was enough and ruled in her favour.

However, during the appeal, Sheriff Colin Dunipace concluded that even though Alison showed she paid for parking, it didn't count because she paid for the wrong car by mistake. He also said that even though it was a small mistake and Alison didn't try to cheat the system, the law didn't allow for any flexibility in this situation.

He believed the tribunal made a mistake in initially saying her payment counted. The appeal was therefore allowed, and the case was remitted to the First-tier Tribunal to deal with the matter as they saw fit.

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