Berkeley Bathurst who was unable to pay for parking – leading to him later getting a £170 fine. (Image: Angela Bathurst / SWNS)
A furious pensioner is refusing to pay a after claiming he was unable to buy a £1 ticket – due to a broken machine.
Berkeley Bathurst says he was unable to pay the fee to park at a car park in Hornchurch, East London, as the ticket machine was broken and he didn’t have his phone on him.
The 75-year-old says he left his car for little over ten minutes to run an errand to the nearby Post Office before returning to his Vauxhall and driving home.
But the great-grandfather was shocked to receive a £100 fine through the post just a few weeks later.
An increased fine of £170 along with a threat of legal action was later received by the retired gardener just three days before Christmas.
However, Mr Bathurst is refusing to give in and pay the fine – arguing that it’s not his responsibility to maintain the machines.
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Berkeley Bathurst says he was unable to pay the fee to park at a car park in Hornchurch, East London (Image: Angela Bathurst / SWNS)
He says he will fight the fine “tooth and nail” and labelled the operator of the car park “gangsters”.
“How could I pay if the machine wasn’t working?” Mr Bathurst said.
“I tried to appeal but I was told it was rejected. I’m not paying it because I’m not going to be ripped off.
“This has caused me so much stress because that’s a flipping lot of money. Where am I going to get £170?
“It’s not my responsibility to maintain their machines.
“They said I should’ve found an alternative method of paying.
“They seemed to think it was my responsibility that the machine didn’t work. That’s absolute rubbish.
“We are not going to put up with this sort of thing. It’s absolutely disgraceful.”
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The 75-year-old left his car for little over ten minutes to run an errand to the nearby Post Office (Image: Angela Bathurst / SWNS)
Mr Bathurst parked his car at the Elm Park car park to run a quick errand to the post office on October 16.
He claims he tried to pay for his ticket – which costs £1 for half an hour – but that the machine was displaying a ‘Not in use’ error.
Being without his phone, which is an alternative way to pay for parking, Mr Bathurst ran his errand to the Post Office before driving home and receiving a fine a few weeks later.
After he refused to pay, this was escalated to debt collection agency ZZPS, which added a £70 administration fee to his charge and threatened him with legal action at the county court.
The letter also threatened ‘additional charges’ if he didn’t pay the increased fine.
Mr Bathurst says he has suffered months of stress after receiving his increased fine in the lead-up to Christmas.
“They sent the [second] letter saying we owe them £170 three days before Christmas,” he continued.
“I thought, ‘How disgraceful sending that letter to old age pensioners’.
“We had the worry of that all Christmas; worrying they would send bailiffs to our door.”
But Mr Bathurst insists he will not give in and will fight his fine ‘until the end’, saying: “I am not paying it. End of story.
“We will fight it tooth and nail, until the end.
“It was a pound, that’s all it was. It’s all a con, in my opinion. They’re like the mafia: ‘Pay up, or else’.
“They’re gangsters, ripping people off and frightening the hell out of people like us.
“We will not pay a penny.”
Mr Bathurst’s wife, 73-year-old Angela, added that she thought the actions of parking company One Park Solution were “tyrannical” given how small the unpaid parking fee would have been.
“It seems to me that money is these parking people’s God and that’s it, they don’t care,” she said.
“He was barely there for ten minutes.”
The couple, who have lived in Hornchurch for the last 30 years, are warning other shoppers to be careful when using the car park to avoid receiving similar fines.
One Park Solution did not respond after being approached for comment about Mr Bathurst’s case.