A couple who visited Brighton for Christmas in 2021 have won after an 18-month dispute over parking fines at Brighton Station.
Guildford IT consultant Pulak Rakshit was in dispute with parking company APCOA over five separate penalty charge notices which he said he shouldn’t have received.
Mr Rakshit received the fines for dropping off his disabled wife, Sharmillah Rakshit, near the taxi rank before parking in a disabled space.
The couple were threatened with debt collectors in letters from APCOA because no appeal had been lodged in the stated timeframe.
After Brighton and Hove News contacted APCOA, all fines for the couple were cancelled.
Mr Rakshit said: “We had quite a lot of building work happening in our house and, therefore, we thought Brighton was a good place to get away from it.
“We ended up staying at the Jury’s Inn with our two children.
“I missed a lot of the letters at first because the house was like a building site.
“Now no one’s listening to me. I sent them letters because I wasn’t able to talk to anyone.
“It’s terrible if someone’s parking at the railway station and, like us, is staying at the hotel and going in and out all the time not realising that even if you’re not parking at the taxi rank, you get fined.
“The railway station should have some duty of care for disabled people.
“We love Brighton but this created a sour point and makes us think twice about coming to Brighton.
“We spent so much money in Brighton with the hotels and everywhere else like that during our building project. It’s just terrible.”
The family were staying at the (former) Jury’s Inn Hotel by Brighton Station over Christmas in 2021, while their house was undergoing construction work.
The Rakshit’s Mercedes E Class car was parked displaying Sharmillah’s disabled blue badge, which was valid, having been issued in 2020, with a 2023 expiry date.
They think APCOA misinterpreted its ANPR pictures of the car doing U-turns as entry and exit times in the restricted taxi rank.
How is cancelling a charge that was wrongly levied a “gesture of goodwill” – such an arrogant attitude from APCOA
There is no way the DVLC should be supplying ownership details of vehicles to private companies. I don’t believe there is any other country in Europe that does this.