A taxi driver has received £100 in compensation after he and dozens of colleagues were wrongly issued parking fines at Norwich Railway Station.
The saga began last year, as PHTM reports, with drivers being scared of going to the station in case they were issued the £100 fines for dropping off or picking up passengers. NCP charges £2.20 to park for an hour and £13 for a full-day ticket, but private hire vehicles can enter and exit the station as many times as necessary, as long as they adhere to the 20-minute grace period.
Fine mess
Despite this, in October last year, another U-ride private-hire driver was incorrectly issued with a £100 fine. But after months of appeals and challenges, he has finally had it overturned and has been compensated for the hassle.
PHTM reports that the driver was one of 30 U-ride colleagues who regularly received parking fines at the station, even though they could show that they were within the 20-minute grace period.
U-ride CEO Nazia Sheikh told PHTM that despite assurances from National Car Parks (NCP) and Greater Anglia, which manages the car park, drivers were wary of pickups there. She said: “People are scared about entering the train station because of these fines. We have proof that our drivers have been on multiple jobs and that they’re only in the station for about five or six minutes.
“But because they’re doing multiple trips in and out of the train station, they’re being charged for it.”
Warning
Despite finally getting tickets overturned through the appeals process, Nazia said it is an issue for all drivers visiting the station.
She said: “If taxi drivers are facing such issues despite having tracking data to challenge the fines, what about regular commuters and visitors who lack the resources to contest these decisions?”
Since U-ride and other taxi firms raised the issue, Greater Anglia and NCP carried out a review of all parking charges issued since September, 2024.
A spokesman told PHTM: “We are aware of a previous issue at Norwich where some number plates were not captured leaving the station. We have resolved this problem.
“We have corresponded directly with the driver to discuss his case. Anyone who believes they may have been incorrectly issued with a parking fine can appeal through the process detailed on our website.”
Disruption
While it is good to see incorrectly issues parking fines overturned and compensation paid where necessary, it is still a hassle for taxi drivers to go through the appeals process. This takes time and focus away from what they want to be doing and can be an unnecessary worry for them.
For people who drive for a living, ignoring a parking ticket is not an option. While many appealed, some drivers may simply have paid the fine, thinking they had overstayed the 20-minute grace period, or believing that it was the quickest way to resolve the matter.
Greater Anglia and NCP have reassured U-ride and other taxi drivers that problems with number-plate-reading cameras have been resolved and they shouldn’t have any more issues. There may be the odd occasion where a number plate is briefly obscured, which is what the appeals process is for, but hopefully there won’t be issues on the scale that drivers have experienced there in the past 6 months.
