I don’t like private car parking companies any more than anyone else, but it serves Carly Mackie right for being slapped with a £24,500 parking penalty, the largest ever in Britain. She received more than 200 parking notices for continually parking outside her mother’s home in Dundee, without a permit.
According to reports, she ignored them all wrongly believing they were unenforceable. Private company Vehicle Control Services had no other option than try to get the money (and interest) via the courts. They had a valid contract governing the space where Miss Mackie had parked and so won their case with ease.
She could’ve gone for the far cheaper and more sensible option of actually buying a permit or challenging the notices early on. Instead, she let them pile up, and her petulant protest has backfired spectacularly. You just cannot ignore so many notices and hope to get away with it. I have no sympathy for her whatsoever.
