Driver wins two-year parking ticket battle against Kirklees Council

Dec 23 2008 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Final decision in two-year parking ticket battle

A DELIVERY driver has won a two-year parking ticket battle with Kirklees Council.

John Crapper was threatened with the bailiffs and has been involved in two court battles with the council over an unfair parking ticket.

But now, after more than two-and-a- half years, he has been told he will not have to pay.

The battle began on August 24, 2006, when Mr Crapper, of Birchencliffe, parked on a clearway off Manchester Road, Huddersfield, to make a delivery on nearby Chapel Hill.

He was gone for just seven minutes and his van didn’t block any part of the main road.

When he returned he found a parking ticket for £60 stuck to his windscreen.

But Mr Crapper decided to fight the ticket and has endured the long battle.

He said: “I parked so I wasn’t blocking anyone and where it was safe to.

“When I got back and saw the ticket I knew it wasn’t right, so I kept appealing and appealing against it.

“They ended up getting the bailiffs to my house, telling me I owed them £213.60p. But I refused to pay and appealed again.

“They need to realise they cannot treat people like that when they are in the wrong, as two court cases have proved.”