By KATHERINE LAWTON, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Published: 04:32 EDT, 24 March 2026 | Updated: 06:59 EDT, 24 March 2026
A grandmother has been fined £270 after claiming broken machines left her unable to pay for parking.
Krystyna Allen, 81, left her vehicle in the car park in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, for 11 minutes on July 17 last year before moving it because the pay machines did not work.
Less than two weeks later, she said she received a £100 fine, despite having tried to pay using both cash and card.
Mrs Allen claimed she has written numerous letters to Smart Parking, the site's operator, but in return has merely received 'more demands for payment'. The company say the payment system was 'fully operational' and that her appeal was rejected by a third party body.
The fine has now increased to £270, with the pensioner receiving 'threatening' letters from debt collectors who warn of court proceedings.
Mrs Allen said: 'I went to pay and tried three or four times, with cash and card, but the machine wasn't working.
'I didn't have a mobile with me, I don't use one. Two very kind gentlemen confirmed it wasn't working by trying their own cards.
'As I'd already been quite a few minutes, they suggested I'd better move my car before I was fined.
Krystyna Allen, 81, (pictured) was fined £270 after broken machines left her unable to pay for parking
'I got back in the car and went and parked across the road at the Arts House car park so I could unload my food that I was offering for a singing event at the United Reformed Church next door.'
Former primary school teacher Mrs Allen said she had been using the car park for four or five years without any problems.
'I have written letter after letter, and have just got back more demands for payment,' she said.
'I've received seven debt collector letters and they are now asking for £270, and threatening to take me to court. My daughter is worried bailiffs will break in.
'I will not be bullied into paying an outrageous car park fine when I am innocent. I will not give in to people like this. Lots of people just sort of cave in, don't they?'
Mrs Allen, from Langley, Warwickshire, is doing a history degree at the Open University, and regularly visits her husband of 39 years, who lives at an RAF care home in Solihull.
She is also occupied with books clubs and coffee mornings, and has started storytelling with children once a week.
'I am a local person and I feel very aggrieved because I must have paid hundreds of pounds for that bloody car parking lot over the years because I would never dream of going without paying. At my age, why would I?' she said.
'Besides, I'm busy, I haven't got time for this.
'I'm not frightened or worried in any way. I'm half Polish, and I have this aversion to being bullied or treated unfairly.
'Although that means that my poor family nearly tear their hair out trying to keep me out of trouble.'
A spokesperson for Smart Parking said: 'Smart Parking was brought in to manage the car park at Stratford Market in order to address parking abuse and to ensure consumers can always find a parking place. To do this, we operate a state-of-the-art ANPR parking management system that monitors cars entering and exiting.
'The motorist in question received a parking charge due to staying in the car park and leaving it without paying.
'It is important to highlight that on the day they were charged, both the cash option on the on-site payment machines and the RingGo app were fully operational and were used by our customers as a method of payment before, during and after the motorist's stay at the car park.
'Smart Parking are members of the International Parking Community (IPC) and strictly follow its guidelines. As part of this, we operate an IPC audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charges by highlighting their mitigating circumstances.
'The motorist's appeal was rejected, and because they failed to engage further, the charge was subsequently escalated to debt recovery.'
Context:
An 81-year-old grandmother faces £270 in fines after claiming parking machines were broken, despite witness confirmation
Context:
Parking disputes highlight the vulnerability of elderly drivers to aggressive debt collection practices by private compa
Context:
Smart Parking disputes her claim, stating payment systems were "fully operational" and used by other customers that day.
