Welsh woman owes 11,000 pounds for 160 parking tickets

LONDON - A woman from Wales owes 11,000 pounds after she was slapped with fines 160 times for illegal parking outside her home.

Carmarthenshire council said Charlotte Williams, 21, had refused to pay 30 pounds for a residents’ parking permit in Llanelli and also parked on double yellow lines.

Williams revealed her car was registered at another address so she could not buy a permit, and that she had moved into the house on Old Castle Road, which belongs to her father, after becoming unemployed so she could not afford a permit anyway.

Since October 2008 she has been issued with 160 fixed penalty notices, including five in five days earlier this month, amounting to 9,600 pounds, and with legal and administration fees her total bill is now 11,000 pounds.

The council said it had written to Williams 381 times and made a lot of effort contacting and speaking to her personally but she would not co-operate.

“It is unfair for the woman to get away with paying the fixed penalty notices,” the BBC quoted executive board member for transport Philip Hughes as saying.

“This is taxpayers’ money. Other people who park illegally are expected to pay their fines,” he stated.

Hughes said calling in the bailiffs was a last resort, as all other efforts to resolve the issue have been exhausted.

But Williams said she believed the council had gone too far, and that she felt a bit “targeted” as she was getting the tickets daily.

She said she had set up a standing order to start repaying the money but there was a mix-up with her bank accounts.

Williams said bailiffs had called at the house and although the property inside belonged to her father they had threatened to take her dog.

She said her grandmother had handed over almost 7,000 pounds to bailiffs, most of which was to the pay the company for call outs.

“I can’t believe that the council have let it get to this stage. It’s so stressful,” she added. (ANI)