Goodwill gesture sees Fife pensioner's car park fine cancelled

Peter McIntyre (86) was surprised when he was issued with a £60 fine, after he made a minor mistyping error when entering his car registration at the Kinnoull Street multi-storey car park in Perth in December.

While entering his registration while paying for his ticket, he mistakenly entered two extra digits at the end.

Faced with the possibility of the fine being doubled if he did not pay, Mr McIntyre paid the fine.

However, following the intervention of MSP Willie Rennie and the Citizen, Smart Parking Ltd said it would cancel the charge. A Smart Parking spokesman said: “The signs in the car park indicate that motorists must add their correct registration number into the payment machines when parking.

“In the case of Mr McIntyre, he did not do this and so correctly received a valid charge. However, as an act of goodwill and mitigating circumstances on this occasion, we have cancelled his charge.”

Mr McIntyre said upon finding out the fine would be cancelled: “That’s wonderful. I can’t believe. It’s a miracle.”

Despite the good news, he warned other drivers about the machines.

“You have to be careful with these machines because they are so sensitive,” he said. “You touch the wrong button and that’s it.

“It’s technology gone mad.

“It’s ridiculous the way the machine works. It’s another way to baffle the older generation.

“It’s another way to get money out of you.”

The spokesman for Smart Parking said the Perth car park uses a system which monitors cars entering and leaving the car park.

They added: “We would remind motorists that when parking in a private car park they should always read the terms and conditions of use before deciding to remain on-site.”

MSP Willie Rennie, who helped Mr McIntyre with the parking fine, had called on the company to cancel the fine and apologise to Mr McIntyre.

Mr Rennie said he was pleased that the charge had been cancelled but said said the company needed to learn from this case.

“I am pleased that the company have seen the error of their ways and withdrawn the charge,” he said.

“But it is unacceptable that it has taken so long time reach this point.

“It shouldn’t be the case that the company only concedes after pressure from the local MSP.

“The stress and anxiety that this fine has caused is something that should not be repeated and the company needs to learn lessons from this case.”