Got to my car this morning to find yet another parking fine, (Have gone a good few months without having one so still cheaper than actually having to buy a permit or daily ticket) I had a feeling when I parked up last night that I would get one but always wanting to push my luck I did not “hide” the car.
Of course yesterday the local council changed some of the parking spaces from long stay to short stay, I did notice last night but thought I would chance it – I did get to my car earlier than I normally would and got to the car park just before 9am. As I had guessed because the area I had parked in was now designated short stay my car was all alone and stood out like a sore thumb as all the other cars were parked in the long stay.
What aggrieves me the most is that this was an easy hit for the council enforcement officer, they saw the car and zoomed in on it (knowing that it would have been left overnight) and I know from past experience that they would not have checked any other car to see if it had a valid parking ticket. Looking at the paperwork I was caught at 8.20am which is fair enough as the car park is monitored from 8am but any other day I have safely left my car until at least 10am sometimes longer when it is “hidden” in with the other long stay cars.
My policy of hiding the car will not change as mentioned before it is not worth me buying a ticket or permit as the only day the car is in the car park after 8am is when I work a late shift.
If I pay within 14 days I will only need to pay £25, this month was already a tight squeeze on my finances with me already cutting back so looks like I will be using food from my cupboards and freezer for the rest of the month.