Has Kevin McManus perjured himself in court?

According to the Daily Mail a recent court hearing involved a type 2 diabetic driver who overstayed his car park time by six minutes because he became faint and stopped to check his blood sugar levels.

Despite appealing on this basis Kevin McManus from AS PArking refused to cancel the charge and took the motorist to court.

The driver brought medical evidence of his diabetes to court, but failed to submit it 14 days beforehand.

Kevin McManus refused to cancel the charge stating in court "It is a common condition and we don't want to open the flood gates and offer a get out of jail free card every time someone with a medical condition is issued with a charge."

Mr McManus then contradicted himself later on when asked by the judge whether he would have scrapped the fine had he received the note earlier. Mr McManus stated he would have done except for a £20 administration fee

The judge ruled that the evidence of being a diabetic was inadmissible and so on the balance of probabilities the driver was not diabetic. The £100 parking charge was upheld.

Prankster Note

This case underlines the Prankster's previous blog where he advised filing all your documents on time and not trying to ambush the other side.

According to this report type 2 diabetes is not a long term disability covered by the Equality Act 2010.
There was therefore no requirement to make a reasonable adjustment.

However, the principle of Frustration of Contract may have been applicable if the incident was unforeseen.

A further point is that the overstay was 6 minutes but the code of practice normally requires a 10 minute grace period. It might be that the signage makes it clear there is no grace period on this site, but a Google image from 2015 would appear that it does not.

15.2 Drivers must be allowed a minimum period of 10 minutes to leave a site after a prepaid
or permitted period of parking has expired.
15.3 The reference to 10 minutes in 15.2 above shall not apply where the period of pre-paid
or permitted parking does not exceed 1 hour providing that the signage on the site
makes it clear to the motorist, in a prominent font, that no grace period applies on that
land.

The Prankster is concerned about Mr McManus's claim that he would have scrapped the charge had he received the note earlier.  Mr McManus has not been known to cancel chagres, and his company is described as "being aggressive, greedy cowboys who are only out to make money."

Knowingly providing false information to the court is of course perjury and The Prankster is interested in getting to the bottom of this.

On the face of it, Mr McManus's claim that he would have cancelled the charge is contradictory with his earlier statement that cancelling charges for medical conditions would open the flood gates.

It also does not appear to lie straight with the fact that the driver appealed on the basis of his diabetes and was flatly refused, without Mr McManus asking for any supporting documentation.

If you have ever been offered to have your parking charge waived by AS Parking for a £20 administration fee, please contact The Prankster. This would hold if the full charge is waived either for a medical condition or any other reason. Mr McManus is also welcome to contact The Prankster, seeing as he reads this blog, to provide statistical information regarding the number of charges waived.

On current evidence it would appear to The Prankster that Mr McManus is a lying, aggressive, greedy cowboy, willing to conceal evidence and perjure himself in court. If any evidence to contradict this appears, The Prankster will of course be happy to publish a right of reply.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster