A bewildered hospital visitor has undergone months of confusion generated by a parking fine dispute.
Parking attendants felt they had got Klaus Mewes’ number when they saw his Volvo estate parked at Ninewells Hospital without a ticket in the window.
The car park’s operator, Vinci Park, has a policy of taking photographs of each car issued a fine. On this occasion, however, the warden failed to take note of the main reason Mr Mewes had not paid and displayed on the right-hand side of his vehicle during his visit the Swiss-registered model is a left-hand drive.
Mr Mewes (77) has lived in Letham Grange for many years since leaving Switzerland. He has sentimental regard for his 16-year-old car, having driven it across Europe when he moved here.
Now a simple mistake on an attendant’s part has escalated into a three-month row over a £10 fine, which has been blown up to £75 by an English debt collector.
Mr Mewes is fluent in English but has a strong accent and found several attempts to speak to Vinci fruitless, so decided to argue his case by letter.
”Letters were coming from Vinci at first,” said Mr Mewes. ”Now they are coming from Roxburghe in Surrey, which is a debt collection agency.”
”Then I wrote them on the 20th, with the parking ticket I had which was affixed to the left-hand side of the window,” he said. ”But they had only looked at the right-hand side.
”The issuing officer enclosed two pictures that they took of the window on the right-hand side. However they didn’t send anything from the left-hand side. Of course there is nothing in the picture, not even a steering wheel.
”Obviously there has been a simple mistake. I just don’t understand why this has gone on and on.”
Vinci has a history of controversial ticket disputes, and has come under close scrutiny over the last several years, due to the Ninewells policy of charging patients and workers alike.
The first correspondence from Roxburghe was on March 13 and Mr Mewes said they seemed uninterested in talking to him on the phone.
”And now it goes one letter after the other,” he said. ”They are asking for only £10 and now they are asking for £75. The last one came yesterday but was dated the 25th of April, and I always keep the envelope to see how long it took.
“I’ve had three letters from Roxburghe, the first on the 30th of March, and I had four letters from Vinci.”
A Vinci Park representative said: ”I am not aware of Mr Mewes’ case but we will be very happy to discuss his case if he contacts us directly. Our parking charge notices are £10 if paid within 24 hours and when paid within 28 days they are £20.”
An advisor for Roxburghe said: ”We are unable to comment on individual cases for reasons of data protection. However, if Mr Mewes is experiencing difficulty in dealing with ourselves due to distance and language barrier, he can approach Citizens’ Advice or a solicitor to act on his behalf.”
The advisor would not entertain the prospect of Mr Mewes having the fine dropped, at least at Roxburghe’s end, adding: ”Any discussion about the circumstances of the fee would have to be with Vinci.”