A driver has been slapped with a £110 fine after he left his car unattended for one minute while he tried to pay for parking.
Zhangyu Wu, 55, said he was reading the payment instructions just meters away from his Toyota in Enfield when an officer fined him for being parked without paying.
The penalty charge notice (PCN) revealed the warden had only observed the car unattended for one minute before handing out the punishment.
Despite explaining the situation in person, Zhangyu was told he had to appeal the fine, which was then rejected by the council.
The business owner told Metro: ‘It is awful and not fair. They do not have any common sense.
‘Drivers should be given a reasonable amount of time to read the payment instructions.’
Zhangyu parked in an Enfield Council parking back on Green Lanes just before 9am on June 9 this year.
He says he had just stepped out of his vehicle and walked across to a parking sign when an enforcement officer walked over to his Toyota and fined it.
‘I was just understanding how I was supposed to pay. The sign has lots of small letters,’ Zhangyu said.
He added: ‘I was not trying to avoid paying, I was trying to follow the rules. The officer thought I was not a driver.’
The PCN shows the parking warden had observed his vehicle ‘parked without payment of the parking charge’ for just one minute, from 8.55am to 8.56am.
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The council say their officer did not see anyone at the nearby parking restriction sign.
But it is clear Zhangyu was very close by to his Toyota when he was fined, because he was recorded protesting to the warden at 8.57am, just seconds after the penalty was issued.
Zhangyu went over to the officer and explained he had only just arrived and was still working out how to pay.
The parking inspector told him the PCN had already been issued and the only option he had was to appeal.
Zhangyu wrote to the council with the same explanation but was told there was ‘no grounds… to wave the PCN’.
The driver said: ‘I don’t understand. Is the council using this as a way to generate money? It is not fair.
‘Anybody with a reasonable understanding should see this is not correct and should be cancelled.’
While the fine had a discount rate of £55, Zhangyu refused to pay, so his sister-in-law – who is the owner of the Toyota – has now been formally sent a Notice to Owner to pay the full £110 fine.
But Zhangyu has now vowed to formally challenge the punishment.
He said: ‘My point is not that people should park without paying. But my question is whether it is fair to issue a £110 penalty when someone has just arrived.’
Enfield Council defended their decision to issue a Penalty Charge Notice.
A spokesperson said: ‘A council Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) followed procedure in this case, by remaining with the vehicle in question the whole time.
‘No one was seen in the vicinity of the vehicle or at the nearby parking restriction sign, so the CEO issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) correctly.’
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