One man's dream of home ownership has been left destroyed by a parking fine he mistakenly received while at a business meeting.
Mark White, 34, said his nightmare started on August 24, 2016 when he went to a conference and parked in the hotel's privately operated car park.
What he didn't realise was that he needed to record his car registration details at the reception desk to receive his free parking session.
Mark later received a £60 fine in the post courtesy of Civil Enforcement Ltd for breaking the private firm's rules.
He appealed, arguing signs at the car park didn't make clear what drivers had to do - he even filed pictures as evidence.
However, Mark lost his case - and an independent body also ruled in Civil Enforcement's favour, arguing the onus was on him to have checked what the rules.
The fine went up to £100 - but he still refused to pay.
Ever since, he's gone through hell and back fighting a legal battle which at one stage destroyed his credit rating.
He was left he was unable to get a mortgage as a result of a debt recovery order which was attached to his name.
Because of the effect on his credit score, Mark, from Plymouth, Devon, says he's now lost out on his hopes to buy a home in the foreseeable future - and is warning other people who get parking fines to just pay up - saying that the risk of the legal battle isn't worth it.
"If I had known at the time what would happen, I would have paid the fine from the outset," Mark said.
"If I had that chance again, I would have paid it off - it's not worth the stress or hassle.
"It's how the law works - you park in a private car park and you have to pay. The courts aren't bothered - it's a simple contract."
Mark appealed his case, arguing signs at the car park didn't make clear what drivers had to do and filed pictures as evidence.
But he lost the case - with an independent body ruling that the onus was on him to have checked the rules.
The fine went up to £100 - but he still refused to pay.
Mark added: "At the time, the opinion online about these firms were all different.
"These are just private companies, just ignore it, was what I was hearing from people. You can just call their bluff and allow them to take you to court.
"So I said to Civil Enforcement, I'm not prepared to pay this fine, take it to court and I will deal with the courts as opposed to you. I didn't hear anything back from them.
"It was another two years before anything else occurred."
In November, last year, I was trying to get in a position to buy my own house.
"I was going through the finances when it was confirmed that my credit score was going to be updated.
"When I checked, it had dropped substantially and there was a County Court Judgement and a £300 plus charge against my name."
Horrified Mark discovered Civil Enforcement had continued sending requests for payment to his old address, but after receiving zero response, got the courts involved.
"I took a significant drop in my credit score, I was now unable to open up a new line of credit with anyone and at that time my hopes of buying a house were gone," he said.
Mark said it then became a mad scramble trying to lift the order against him and settle the case once and for all.
"I had nothing, no paperwork, nothing," he said. "I was going in blind, trying to find anything about the case.
"I eventually tracked it down - I knew that if you can provide evidence that you didn't get the paperwork then you have grounds of another appeal.
"So I had to go through all the motions of that, stuff going back and forth with the courts."
Another court hearing was due for later this year, but the entire episode was finally dropped this summer after Mark reached a deal with Civil Enforcement Ltd.
"I had a really good chance of getting rid of the CCJ (at appeal) so I told them I would give them £100 - and they accepted that; case closed."
But Mark says the emotional impact of fighting and defending himself for as long as he did, was huge.
"It went on, for a long time - it was really stressful," he said.
"I spent entire days off work sorting the paperwork - the stress of it was huge.
"It really, really affected me. I had a family member helping me with it all. It was just horrible.
"It took a very long time before we got to the point where they closed the case."
