Parking fine sparks fury from woman after being ‘unfairly’ penalised when hot weather melted permit’s glue

A woman who was given a parking fine said she was “unfairly penalised” after the glue on her permit melted in hot weather.

Lana Haverstock, 51, who lives in Raphael Road, Hove, came home from a day of work in London to see she had been slapped with a penalty fare – despite her in-date resident’s permit being visible on the passenger seat.

She appealed the fine to Brighton and Hove Council but it was swiftly rejected, with the local authority stating that they had “reviewed the quality of the adhesive used in 2023”.

Despite linking photos of her car and the permit, the council rejected the appeal on “insufficient grounds”.

Upon inspection of other cars parked in the area, the university lecturer discovered that 15 of the 25 cars parked there had permits that were unattached from their windscreens.

She saw that many had used tape or glue to try and re-attach their permits.

The 51-year-old told The Argus: “The permits were expiring in 2024/25 so would have had the revised adhesive. It is clearly due to poor quality.”

Haverstock said that the Brighton and Hove City Council has no information on what counts as “sufficient evidence” when making an appeal.

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Following her experience, she said she wanted to make sure others did not make the same mistake.

“I want to warn other innocent souls and save them time, energy and the heartache.” she said.

Councillor Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport, parking and public realm, said: “We are aware this had occasionally been an issue in the past during unusually hot weather and have worked with the company which produces our permits to reduce the likelihood of this happening.

“We doubled the width of the adhesive on the permit and added very clear application instructions, with images, to the permit letter following tests carried out by the manufacturer.

“It is important the windscreen is cleaned before the permit is applied as it is considerably more likely to come unstuck from an uncleaned window in hot weather.

“We’re confident the quality of our permits has improved, but where residents feel they have been unfairly ticketed they do have the option to appeal any fines received.

“Whenever we receive such an appeal, our officers judge each case on its merits and the available evidence.”