Man outraged over $281 fine for 'untidy parking'

An elderly man has hit out at a council for issuing an ‘unfair’ parking fine after his Land Rover was seen creeping over the white lines in a car park.

Roger Murray was at the Macclesfield multi-storey towns centre car park in England when he was slapped with the $281 ticket for “untidy parking”.

Mr Murray claims the parking spaces are tight and even when parked correctly his car barely fits between the lines and is just five inches from a wall.

“Hence my passenger wouldn’t be able to get out! So had to park overlapping the line,” he posted on Facebook.

Mr Murray said the roof beam at the car park was also so low it scraped the top of his car when attempting to park.

“I felt this [is] a most unfair fine,” he wrote on Facebook.

“As directed on the ticket, wrote a letter of appeal to the ticket office in Crewe, and spoke to people at the Macclesfield council but they just passed the buck saying they couldn’t do anything about it, wasn’t their department.”

Mr Murray said he spoke to a councillor and while he was sympathetic, he was “powerless to intervene”.

The 89-year-old wrote on Facebook he is refusing to pay the fine, which resulted in what he claims was a threatening letter from a debt recovery company employed by council.

He claimed the company threatened to seize goods from his home if he didn’t pay and could possibly incur further charges for storing those items.

“Thankfully [I] think I can cope with it but a lot of people of my age would be completely traumatised and frightened,” he said.

“The council is partly at fault as their allocated spaces are much too small.

“I probably should have paid the fine, but there are times when you feel the thing is so unjust that you make a stand.”

Mr Murray said while he did park over the line, he thought council’s actions were over the top.

Many agreed with Mr Murray, urging him to ignore the fine.

“That is disgusting, the boxes are way too tight unless you have a small car, they have disabled bays for parents and children, why not bays for 4x4s, or vans, it’s just another money making kick in the teeth for motorists,” one commented.

“Parking spaces are way too narrow and for that reason I avoid town centres like the plague.”

A spokesman for the Cheshire East Council told CheshireLive all penalties were supported by evidence, including photographs.

“In this case, the [penalty charge notice] was issued correctly,” the spokesman said.

“Regulations state that a vehicle must be parked within the marked bays.

“In this case, the vehicle was positioned in a way that prevented other drivers from using the neighbouring parking space.”

The council told CheshireLive debt recovery enforcement agencies also had strict rules to adhere by when working on the council’s behalf.

Yahoo News Australia has contacted Cheshire East Council for comment.

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