Lawyer who refused to pay parking summons wins case

BY CHRISTINA KOH

TELUK INTAN: A lawyer who refused to pay a summons after he parked his car in a bay with a faulty meter two years ago was acquitted and discharged by a magistrate’s court here. 

Majistrate D. Sunita Kaur Jessy ruled yesterday that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against R. Terence Naidu, 36, who submitted that he had fed coins into the meter but it refused to register the money. 

He was charged under Clause 20(1) of the Hilir Perak District Council’s Road Transport Order (Parking Bylaw) 1997 with parking his car at a bay in Jalan Maharani here without paying the meter charge at 11.55am on Jan 22, 2001. 

If convicted, he would have faced a maximum RM300 fine. 

Naidu, who represented himself, had earlier submitted that according to the bylaw, a parking attendant had to verify that he had put in money and acknowledge it by giving a receipt. 

However, he said, this practice was not usually done in this country, adding that the town had only three parking attendants who also did not have instructions to receive complaints from the public. 

Naidu argued that the private company, which maintained the meters, had violated S14A (2) of the Weights and Measures Act 1972 by not sending the meters for recalibration after they had been opened for servicing. 

He said there were also no means of informing the meter technicians about the problem, adding that the public should not be burdened with the responsibility of contacting the authorities. 

District council prosecution officer Ibrahim Mat Din had earlier submitted that Naidu's car had been found in the parking bay and that a summons was issued because he was found to not have fed coins into the meter. 

Outside the court, Naidu said the magistrate’s decision was an important one as it reflected on the parking meter system of the entire country.