By MIKE GLOVER and TOM LAWRENCE
Published: 12:16 AEDT, 16 December 2024 | Updated: 12:18 AEDT, 16 December 2024
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A man has been left unable to get a mortgage after he moved a sofa, coffee table and his pet goldfish into a supermarket car park to protest the handling of a parking ticket.
Michael Moody travelled 240 miles from his home in Skegness to Booth's car park in Windermere to stage the protest - setting up a makeshift living room.
He was handed a county court judgement (CCJ) for not paying the fine, a mistake which has led to him being unable to renew his mortgage.
Car park operator Parkingeye said Mr Moody failed to get in touch with the company and he is now required to settle the matter with the court.
Michael Moody was visiting his father in Windermere in February last year and was said to have overstayed in the store's car park for 41 minutes.
He claims the CCJ (County Court Judgement) is now having a detrimental impact on his financial status.
Mr Moody said he acknowledges he was at fault for overstaying, but did not pay the fine because he did not notice the letters sent to him.
He said: 'I have no issue with paying the fine, I wish I'd seen the letters earlier and I could have dealt with it then.
Michael Moody set up a makeshift living room outside Booths supermarket in Windemere
'I'm happy to pay the fines and any court costs, the problem is I can't move forward with my life and get a mortgage because of this CCJ in my name,' he said.
'That 40 minutes extra in a car park can really change someone's life.
'I spent a significant amount of time trying to be careful, making sure that I had a perfect credit history, because there's now a time where I want to do more stuff with loans and finance.'
Mr Moody said he only found out about the CCJ when NatWest rejected his application to renew his two mortgages.
'I've got two mortgages that have just come to the end of their fixed term, and they've shot up - one by £400 and one by £300 - so now I'm not able to reapply to bring those rates down, which means I'm significantly affected each and every single month,' he said.
Michael is now asking Booths to agree to remove the CCJ, which will allow him to do things such as apply for a loan to buy the house of his late mother.
'I'm prepared to pay all costs involved,' Michael added.
'I've also now reached the stage where I want to encourage more people to challenge these situations, because I know loads must have been caught out with parking fines.
'Even if it just inspires Booths to employ someone new to help people deal with the problem, rather than seeing it spiral out of control like this.'
A spokesperson from Booths outlined that the car park sees 'constant misuse', which forces them to impose maximum fines.
They commented: 'Parking Eye had been in communication with Mr Moody on numerous occasions and have offered guidance on how to proceed with his claim, correspondence which Mr Moody disputes receiving.
'We would note it is a legal requirement to have your car registered with the DVLA at the address where you live.
'Mr Moody has repeatedly admitted he overstayed the car park, and although he says he wishes to settle his debts, he did not pay his parking charge notice to Parking Eye as outlined in their numerous correspondence.
'As this ticket has not been settled in over two years, unfortunately Booths are unable to help with this matter as the case has been escalated through debt recovery and referred to the County Court.
'Mr Moody has been misadvised that Booths would be able to set aside his claim against the CCJ, at this point in the process, Booths are unable to intervene in this matter as the case has been escalated to debt recovery and referred to the County Court.
He moved his sofa, shelves, coffee tables and his pet goldfish 240 miles to set up the protest
'While Booths have sympathy with Mr Moody around his mortgage issues and will support his case with both Parking Eye and debt recovery agency, he needs to follow the process that has been shared with him and pursue the matter with the court.'
Parkingeye said Mr Moody had correctly received the fine in February 2023 but he failed to respond to 'successive rounds of correspondence'.
A spokesperson said: 'The motorist correctly received a Parking Charge in February 2023 for staying 41 minutes over the two-hour maximum stay period highlighted in the signage.
'Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charge.
'The motorist failed to submit an appeal to highlight any mitigating circumstances for breaking the rules of the car park and failed to respond to successive rounds of correspondence from us to the registered address of his vehicle.
'As a result of him failing to communicate with us or settle the charge, his case was escalated to debt recovery and has now been referred to the County Court.
'We can confirm that the motorist first got in touch with us on November 14 this year to settle the payment and request that we remove the County Court Judgement - this would need to be done directly with himself and the County Court and we sent guidance on how to do this on November 25.
'This would need to be done directly with himself and the County Court and we sent guidance on how to do this in November.'
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group
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