A parking company has embraced the spirit of Christmas by waiving a fine given to a couple from Llanbedrog who were handing over money to charity.

Pete Downing and his wife Sally appealed to car park company NCP to be “more lenient”, after receiving a parking ticket while they were handing over money to Children in Need.

Their appeal was rejected, but when the Cambrian News raised their plight, the company decided to drop the fine.

Pete said: “The Cambrian News has again proven that it can act as a champion for the people of Gwynedd.”

The Downings received a parking ticket at an NCP car park at Bangor Station.

The couple claim the fine, for £50 if paid within 14 days and rising to £85 after that, was issued unfairly due to a faulty ticket machine and a long queue to pay someone in person.

NCP rejected the couple’s appeal but when the Cambrian News approached them about the case, the company agreed to drop the fine “as a gesture of goodwill”.

They received the ticket on 8 November when they travelled to Bangor to meet the BBC’s Children in Need rickshaw team. The retired couple wanted to hand over money they had collected for the good cause.

The team had been due to pass Bangor Station at 12.10pm, so Pete and Sally arrived at 12.05pm and parked in the NCP car park.

Pete told the Cambrian News they did not have any cash on them and attempted to pay the parking fee by credit card, but were unable to as the ticket machine keypad was faulty.

The NCP told the Cambrian News: “After reviewing the Penalty Charge Notice and also investigating all our payment machine activity on site on that day, NCP can confirm that the payment machine was working correctly and that the machine had taken contactless and cash payments repeatedly throughout that payment period. 

“Customers do also have the option to pay via Dash as well as in the station booking office. 

“Therefore the PCN was correctly issued.  

“Given these unique circumstances, and as a gesture of goodwill, NCP has agreed to cancel the PCN but the customer will need to pay the daily charge of £4.50 and a £10 admin fee within the next 14 days via the PCN payment portal.”

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