Puzzle 3 of 10

Can you get a parking ticket 6 minutes after your ticket ran out?

Spot the mistake in 3 seconds: the ticket ran out at 14:00, the charge says 14:06.

SPECIMEN. A fictional windscreen parking charge from a pay and display car park, issued at 14:06 on 7 October 2026 for a ticket that ran to 14:00. — SPECIMEN. Fictional notice made for a puzzle. Not a real charge, operator or council. The notice is shortened to the lines that matter. The mistake is in a line you can see, or is missing from one of them.

Read the notice as text

Heading: PARKING CHARGE NOTICE
From: Example Parking Ltd (fictional)
Vehicle: AB12 IDE
Land: Anytown Market Street pay and display car park
Paid until: 14:00, Wed 7 Oct 2026 (ticket on dashboard)
Notice fixed to windscreen: 14:06, Wed 7 Oct 2026
Reason: Parked after paid time expired
Parking charge: £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days

What is wrong with it?

Tap the one you think is the mistake.

It was issued inside the grace period
Yes, that is the mistake.
The £60 discount
Not this one. Try another.
It was fixed to the windscreen instead of posted
Not this one. Try another.

Show the answer

The mistake: It was issued inside the grace period

Six minutes late feels like fair game, but the industry Code says otherwise. On top of the time you paid for, a car park must allow a grace period, and the Code's table sets it at 10 minutes for a pay and display site, unless the operator's trade body has approved a different period for that site in writing. The Code also says no charge may be issued during that time. This notice went on the car at 14:06, which is inside the window that ran to 14:10. Quote the clock times from the notice itself and the photo of your ticket. A short stay zone of 30 minutes or less is different, so check the signs.

The rule it breaks

A grace period as set out at Annex B to this Code must be allowed by the parking operator in addition to the parking period. A parking charge must not be issued during a Grace Period.

The private parking sector single Code of Practice, version 1.1 (BPA and IPC), Clause 5.2, read 19 October 2026; quoted word for word.

Also in the text

Tariff for parking, pay up front for specified period (e.g. pay-and-display): minimum consideration period 5 minutes; grace period 10 minutes.

Annex B, Table B.1, pay-up-front row, read 19 October 2026; transcribed from a table; the source sets this row out as a table, so the words are ours and the figures are the source's.

in exceptional circumstances the design of the controlled land may be such that a shorter – less than 10 minutes – or a longer – more than 10 minutes period may be appropriate. In such cases the ATA must give written approval to the period, record the rationale for that decision

Annex B, Table B.1, footnote 2 (on the pay-up-front row), read 20 October 2026; transcribed from a table; the source sets this row out as a table, so the words are ours and the figures are the source's.

The dates, worked out

Paid time ended	14:00, Wed 7 Oct 2026
Grace period runs	14:00 to 14:10 (10 minutes for pay and display)
Charge issued	14:06, 4 minutes before the grace period ended
Early rate window	14 days from issue, to Wed 21 Oct 2026