Portsmouth nursery workers must pay £1,300 after admitting parking frauds

Toptots worker Molly Mouncher, 23, of Homefield Road, Drayton, was caught out in Portsea using expired JA zone parking permits.

She had adapted permits supplied to her by Leanne Pettinger, 35, who lived in Rawlinson Terrace, King William Street in Portsea.

Pettinger was legitimately allowed to have the permits. But they were only legally allowed to be used for genuine visitors - not for parking near work.

Pettinger sold them to Mouncher, who altered seven expired ones to ‘dishonestly use the permits on multiple occasions’.

Doing so she managed to park for free for 18 days before the council’s senior criminal parking investigator caught her out - and impounded her 59-plate Nissan Qashqai on February 12.

Mouncher told investigators she knew her actions were dishonest but added: ‘It was a silly mistake, I was just trying my luck.’

Cllr Lynne Stagg, cabinet member for traffic and transportation said: ‘Residents within the resident parking zones pay for their permits so fraudulently altering permits to get free parking is unacceptable.

‘The misuse of visitor parking permits is a criminal offence and it undermines the integrity of the scheme.’

Mouncher admitted seven charges of adapting a JA Portsea parking permit for use in fraud on February 12. She also admitted fraud under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 for altering a permit to enable its repeated use.

Pettinger admitted supplying an article for fraud on January 6.

Mouncher and Pettinger were both prosecuted by the council at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court for the offences.

In court chairwoman of the magistrates’ bench Joanna Townsend imposed a community order on each woman.

Mouncher was subjected to a six-week electronically tagged curfew between 7.30pm and 6am.

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Pettinger was ordered to complete a four-week curfew between 7pm and 6am. Mouncher must pay £719.60 costs to the council and a £90 surcharge.

Pettinger must pay £413.96 costs and a £90 surcharge.

Both of the women were prosecuted at the end of October and have completed their curfew punishments.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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