No refunds for motorists wrongly issued with parking fines

Updated
Parking ticket on a car windshield.
Parking ticket on a car windshield.



Thousands of motorists will not receive refunds after being wrongly issued with parkingfines, a police force has said.

Police community support officers, for West Yorkshire Police, handed out around 16,000 tickets without having the correct powers.

The force said it has taken legal advice on the matter and is satisfied that the affected motorists are not entitled to refunds.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the PCSOs had been authorised to issue tickets by the Chief Constable but an "administrative error" meant the authorisation was invalid.

An investigation into the issue concluded that motorists who paid the fines had either been found guilty in court or had accepted committing the offence and waived their right to contest the matter.

The spokesman said: "A search of our systems showed that about 16,000 tickets may have been affected, the fines from which were paid to the courts and thus into public funds.

"We have sought examples of similar issues elsewhere and have also taken legal advice on the matter. As a result of this we are now satisfied that there is no basis in law that would entitle anyone to such a refund, which would, in any case, have had to come from the public purse.

"Whilst we therefore now consider this matter closed, we would like to reassure the public that, at the time these tickets were issued, the force and the PCSOs believed that they were acting correctly and in good faith, and that the force has acted promptly to consider and rectify the position as soon at the issue came to light."

The spokesman said PCSOs now have the full range of powers available to them as intended.



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