Traffic warden slaps car with £50 parking fine despite heartfelt handwritten note

A JOBSWORTH traffic warden insisted on slapping a car with a £50 fine – despite an incredibly heartfelt note from its driver.

The silver SUV, bearing a Ukrainian number plate, was left in Church Street, Birmingham City Centre, without a parking ticket.

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The car featured a handwritten note on the dashboard instead, explaining the drivers had “just arrived” from the war-torn country.

They claimed they did not have any coins to pay, before apologising and promising to move by “about 10pm”.

But a yellow fine stuck to the windscreen showed the on-duty traffic warden did not accept the excuse – and went ahead with the fine.

The note read: “We have just arrived from Ukraine to 1 Victoria Square and don’t have coins to pay for parking, only credit card.

“Sorry. We will move about 10 pm.”

The address 1 Victoria Square belongs to office space rental agency Regus, Birmingham Live reports.

Victoria Square is also home to the Council House and the Town Hall which may be where the owners of the car were heading.

Drivers on Church Road must buy a ticket from the nearby machine and display it on their dashboard.

But the council and warden involved told the publication the machine does accept card payments.

Birmingham City Council states on its website fines are halved to £25 if paid within 14 days, meaning the driver could be slapped with a £50 penalty if late.

A spokesperson for the authority said: “The driver of a vehicle parked on Church Street on June 13 2022 left a note explaining their circumstances.

“They may not have known which car parks have machines that take card payments, so if they wish to challenge the PCN, they can do so via the council’s website – or only pay £25 if fine is paid within 14 days.

“Cashless payments can be made either online or on mobile phones via RingGo – which accepts card or digital payments such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.”

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