Newport: Man awarded compensation after parking firm sent him fine five years after alleged offence

A motorist who was given a fine by a parking company five years after the alleged offence has been awarded compensation in court.

David Goffart, from Pontypridd, received the £160 fine from New Generation Parking Management Ltd in May 2023.

It was posted to him over five years after an alleged motoring offence in January 2018 in the car park of Malpas Road shopping area in Newport.“I couldn’t believe it when I received it, I’d completely forgotten about it,” said Mr Goffart after receiving the letter in May.

“I actually wrote to New Generation immediately after receiving the fine in 2018 asking for further evidence and never received that evidence. At the time they’d sent me a fine for £100 saying I’d parked on double yellow lines, but I didn’t think I had.“I also told them they’d not used the correct first name in their letter to me, so I wanted them to communicate with the DVLA because I had suspicions. I questioned the letter’s authenticity.

"In my email to them I asked them to provide evidence they were a member of the BPA (British Parking Association) or IPC (International Parking Community), and they never got back to me on that.” Other than a reminder notice in March 2018, Mr Goffart said he didn’t receive any further correspondence from New Generation until May this year, when DCB Legal wrote to Mr Goffart on behalf of the parking company demanding £160 and threatening further costs if he failed to pay.

Mr Goffart said the letter left him feeling stressed and harassed.“I tried to remember what had happened and still thought I’d done nothing wrong,” Mr Goffart explained. “As I felt they caused me a lot of stress with this, I decided I wanted to counter sue.”Mr Goffart took New Generation to Pontypridd County Court on 8 September, claiming that the company had harassed him, caused him unnecessary stress and pursued him without evidence.

The court found that while it couldn’t award Mr Goffart his full claim of £1,000, it could award him £200 in costs, determining that the company had pursued Mr Goffart with no evidence of a parking infringement.

“There was no clear evidence and the evidence provided by New Generation didn’t show that I was parked on double yellow lines,” Mr Goffart said.

His lawyer who represented him in court, Susan Prior, said: "David was awarded costs in this case despite the counterclaim failing because of the unreasonable conduct of New Generation.

"Judges can at their discretion apply costs in the small claims arena when a party is shown to have acted in a manner which is contrary to that of any reasonable person.Mr Goffart added: “The judge said that based on a lack of evidence the company shouldn’t have pursued me. I’m grateful for the £200 for the costs of the time I had to spend on the case. Overall I’m happy, even though I didn’t win all that I’d asked for.

"The judge awarded me £200 indicating my case was valid for compensation and the judge felt there was a discrepancy not only with their evidence but also due process.”He also said that he wants to share his story to help others. “I am told many of these cases also include lack of evidence and a lack of due process.

"My lawyer has been able to overturn 90% of these cases. Too many people just accept these fines. At the end of the day it was a bogus parking fine that wouldn’t stand up in court.”

New Generation Parking Management Ltd have been approached for a comment.

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