Typo error on parking permit triggers 'unfair' fines

A woman has been hit with hundreds of pounds worth of "unfair" fines due to a typo on a parking permit application.

Andora Webster, 40, from Cliftonwood in Bristol, paid £56 for a residents' parking permit over the phone via the independent system MiPermit in November 2024.

But a single digit on her vehicle registration was entered incorrectly, meaning parking wardens did not recognise her car as having a valid permit. She said the subsequent fines for parking on the street outside her home racked up £465, as she wrestled over whether to pay or fight the fees.

Bristol City Council said as a "gesture of good will", all of the parking fines related to this case will now be cancelled.

It was not until six months after registering her new car that Webster received her first Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), and assumed it was a mistake on behalf of Bristol City Council.

After realising the typo error, she appealed the charge and it was cancelled.

Webster then tried to amend the permit with the correct details, but during that time, the council doubled the cost of resident parking permits to £124.

"They said the only way they would be able to sort this out would be to refund the permit I had, and for me to purchase a new one," she said.

"I explained that financially, that wouldn't be fair as I still has quite a few months left on it, and the prices had since doubled. But they said there was no other way."

Webster believes it is unlikely the typo was her mistake, as she read out the car's registration number straight from the logbook.

The council rejected any further appeals from Webster, telling her she had the opportunity to "rectify the issue" after the initial fine, but chose not to do so.

"This has been going on since before the birth of my child, and it has cast a little bit of a shadow over my maternity leave," she said.

"I've always had this thing looming over me all the time. In my mind, it's such an unfair situation that I feel like I should keep fighting it.

"But at the same time, there's this creeping cost building in the background. This horrible fine that keeps going up and up and up - all over a simple mistake."

Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport and connectivity committee, said: "We acknowledge that a better approach could have been taken in the first instance to correct the error on the permit.

"The highways department will raise this with the permit supplier and write to the customer to confirm the cancellation of the PCNs.

"I am pleased that this should now resolve the situation as a new permit with the correct vehicle registration has been purchased."

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