Payments Office
County Parking Enforcement Agency Ltd
PO Box 548
Northampton
NN7 3WR
8 August 2007
Dear Sirs
Penalty Notice CP00233936 : Offence committed 8 November 2006, appeal originally submitted 9 November 2006
I am so grateful to you for your letter of 7 August 2007, in response to mine of 3 June 2007 when I had occasion to write again following your letter of 31 May 2007, in which you turned down my original appeal.
I am writing to tell you that it gives me a surge of hope in human nature to realise that people such as yourselves do not actually BOTHER TO READ the communications sent to you by your victims. In this regard I particularly draw to your attention:-
a) That you turned down my appeal originally, because my car was not showing its disabled parking badge on the windscreen, although parked in a disabled bay. You clearly had paid very close attention to my appeal (sent 9 November 2006), where I was asking you to take account of the mitigating circumstances surrounding my arrival at work on the day I committed this terrible offence, and where also I reminded you that the badge had been in view but (admittedly) was not actually ON the windscreeen;
b) That you clearly gave close attention to what I said in my letter of 3 June 2007 where I asked you to reconsider your decision, on the basis of the three mitigating circumstances, which (to refresh your memory) I detailed again, for you;
c) That in your letter today, replying to my letter of 3 June, in which you kindly put me in my (lowly) place, you draw my attention to the fact that the appeal was turned down because I was parked in a disabled bay and the disabled badge was not on the windscreen – you also, very generously, draw my attention to the University’s parking regulations which state that cars parked in disabled bays must display disabled badges.
Well, blow me down! I had a really bad journey to work on 8 November 2006. I was in a terrible state when I got to work that morning. I was even more upset to find later that I had a parking ticket. I inadvertently allowed you to take the ‘reduced’ penalty of £40 from my debit card when I went online that night to try to appeal against the charge. Did you seriously think that (although I have only worked here for 27.5 years) I REALLY DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY’S PARKING REGULATIONS – AND DID NOT KNOW THAT IF I WANTED TO PARK IN A DISABLED BAY I HAD TO PUT MY BADGE UP IN THE WINDSCREEN (and not leave it on the passenger seat)?. You clearly think that it has taken me nine months to learn these astounding facts – so I repeat my gratitude for the generosity in giving me this information in your letter of 7 August. And stuff the mitigating circumstances beyond my control which surrounded my arrival at work that dreadful day. They are long gone, they cost me £40 – and you have not referred to them once, anyway.
.
Kerren Simmonds
)
