February 8

 February 8

At last something is being done about the parking pirates, the private companies that have been mercilessly targeting motorists for years. 

Fines will be generally limited to £50, half that now demanded.

I have personal experience of the relentless hounding tactics that have plague motorists for many years, unhindered by periodic newspapers campaigns,

Three years ago I parked in a Cardiff Bay shopping mall, displaying my disability blue badge.

It was just out of date and the previous day a local council obligingly left a note on the windscreen telling me to renew it.

The hawk eyed private warden left a penalty notice demanding £70. I wrote explaining that I had ordered a new one, and was told to prove it. I sent a photocopy of the new badge as soon as I received it but they replied that I still had to pay up. 

Three years later they are still, chasing me, even finding my new address after I went into a care home. I took up it up unsuccessfully with Citizens Advice Bureau.

Now at a new address I am expecting another letter warning of impending prosecution, this time probably for more than the £170  they last quoted.

For them, a forlorn hope, but, in a way, I would welcome the chance to tell the story in court.