Porsche man's fury at fine for vehicle mix-up

A Porsche driver who was fined £70 after his silver car was mistaken for a Renault van with a company logo in a Hucknall car park, is furious because he has never visited the town in his life!
Parking eye charge.Parking eye charge.
Parking eye charge.

Hedley Riches received the fine, along with images which show the van entering and leaving the Aldi carpark on December 21.

He said his Porsche 911 Carrera 4 is “neither taxed or insured and permanently remains under wraps as a long-term investment in my home garage at Ellington, Northumberland. Furthermore I have never been to Hucknall in my life.

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“Any idiot can see that the vehicle clearly displayed in the photograph is a Renault commercial vehicle with the company name displayed on the rear doors. In any event it is clearly not a silver Porsche 911 Cerrera 4.”

Mr Riches replied to ParkingEye, the Chorley-based firm which issued the notice and suggested the culprit be “dismissed on the grounds of total and utter unacceptable incompetence.”

He said: “No doubt the matter will be attributed to a computer error. In this case the accuracy of visual recognition and powers of logical and reasoned deduction are clearly inadequate and the programme must be called into question. I wonder how many elderly or infirm people may have been bullied and harassed by the tone of your notice and have simply “coughed up the cash”.”

He told the firm he was not appealing and had “no intention of paying this spurious fine.”

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A ParkingEye spokesperson said: “We encourage people who have received a parking charge to appeal if they think there are mitigating circumstances. Upon assessment of his case, ParkingEye has cancelled the parking charge.”