I hope that the man in question, who was given a parking ticket in a Lancaster car park after trying to use a ticket machine which he claimed was faulty, does appeal to the traffic penalty tribunal for an independent adjudication.

Whilst I hope he does so I feel that he should have been given the benefit of the doubt. He had written a note and placed it in his windscreen explaining what had happened to him.

As a matter of fact, this same set of circumstances happened to me about a couple of weeks ago.

I had parked my car near to Moor Lane and wanted to park for two hours. I placed some of the £1.70 in the machine but it failed to register as it went in. I then pushed the button to get my money back and most of it came back but not the last 20p.

I could not go to another machine on the site because I did not have the full £1.70 having lost my 20p.

I too wrote a note explaining the problem and set off to do my shopping. I felt uneasy about doing this, wondering would I be believed if a traffic warden happened to check my car for the appropriate parking ticket.

Feeling uneasy as I shopped, and to great inconvenience, I returned early to my car and found that a van was at that moment drawing up close to the ticket machine. It turned out that the men were there to mend the ticket machine.

I explained to one of them what had happened to me and he gave me back my 20p. I told him I had worried that I would not be believed and he said: "Don't worry, they would have believed you because this machine is out of order". He said that the machines which are made in Germany often jam because they are meant for euros!

Fortunately for me, I had not received a parking ticket for non-
payment on this occasion. I walked away relieved but thoroughly
bewildered.

I, too, am an OAP, but not so elderly as the gentleman who wrote to you recently.

Pat Costain
Garstang
Full address supplied