‘I can’t be the only one’ – drummer in six-month parking ticket battle with Hackney Council
A furious Greg Bishop with his parking ticket. Picture: Dieter Perry - Credit: Archant
A driver who had five wrongful parking tickets quashed following a lengthy legal battle was given another one just hours after winning his appeal.
A furious Greg Bishop with his parking ticket. Picture: Dieter Perry - Credit: Archant
Professional drummer Greg Bishop was given two of the tickets six months ago in Hackney during the transition from old parking mobile phone app Pay by Phone to Ringo, despite paying both times.
After the first occasion, Greg returned to park in the same spot in Warner Street, Stoke Newington the next day and spotted an enforcement officer.
“I said ‘can you watch me put the money on please?’, which he did and everything was fine,” said Greg. “Then I came out and I had a ticket! I couldn’t believe it.”
Greg then went through the appeals process and thought no more of it. But after returning home from a run of shows he found it had escalated to a legal matter.
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“I had court summonses sent to me saying bailiffs were going to come round. I had to call up and send them proof I had paid.”
The six-month ordeal finally ended when Hackney Council admitted liability last week, but unfortunately that wasn’t the end of it.
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“The very same day, I parked my car again, in Hackney, this time using the Ringo app,” Greg continued. “It expired at 3.30pm and I came out at 3pm to a parking ticket! It had been given at 1.30pm! I instantly rang the girl who’d emailed me that morning asking if I was happy with the way she’d dealt with my complaint. No, absolutely not. Because clearly nothing has been done to rectify the original problem.
“It’s just outrageous. I can’t be the only person having these problems.”
Hackney Council said the appeals team was investigating his latest ticket. A spokesman said: “Since its introduction in July 2016 the Ringo parking app has been working without problems, with almost half a million transactions going through.
“Unfortunately the previous provider, Pay by Phone, did experience problems towards the end of the transition period. Mr Bishop received two tickets during this time, which he has successfully appealed.”
