Last year I parked in town, at 11:45pm. The car park became free at midnight, and I didn’t fancy forking out a couple of quid for 15 minutes worth of parking.

Assuming there would not be a traffic warden around at such an hour, I left the car and headed to meet some friends. As if paying £8 to get into a club and drink tap water wasn’t bad enough, imagine my shock when I returned to find a council parking fine on my windscreen. The ticket said I was observed at 11:50pm and ticketed at 11:55pm (5 minutes before it became free).

Anyway, last month I parked in a different council owned car park which is situated above a shopping centre. After putting £2.50 in the meter I then spent just under 2 hours in town.

Upon returning to my car, there was a parking fine attached to the windscreen yet again. I examined the ticket I had purchased and it said I had paid £1.50, NOT £2.50, meaning that a quid had dropped through the machine without me realising.

I wrote to the council and explained I was thoroughly miffed at losing £1, let alone getting a £25 fine on top. Of course, they explained it was my responsibility to check the fee paid and the fine still stands. But it got me thinking, when you consider the cost of council tax, not to mention the hefty rates that the shops in town must pay to the council, it begs the question why we have to pay for parking at all?

The damage has been repaired (without respraying the whole bumper), however my wallet is now £140 lighter. Chips Away sanded down the area and cleaned it with solvent, before priming, painting, polishing and lacquering. All in all about 3 hours work and there is no sign of the original “mistake”.

I am glad the whole bumper didn’t need doing because I learnt today that when Jaguar apply the factory paint they check it afterwards with a laser to within 100 microns.

Afterwards the bin men arrived and I looked out the window to check they didn’t reverse the lorry into the car (that would have been ironic). Anyway, I saw the driver get out and look around suspiciously, and then proceed to have a piss up the side of the lorry wheel.

There looks like a blemish in the paint but this is just light reflection.

I’ve had my car for sometime now and as many people will know I’ve kept it in perfect condition. Whenever I have to park in public car parks I tend to park far away from everyone else because I got fed up of paying £60 a time to have door dings removed (caused by people who fling open their doors when parked next to you or or ram a trolley into the side of your car).

In fact it was only last night I went to the cinema, and upon parking right at the far end of the car park my friend asked if we should get a taxi to take us to the other end, and almost got his binoculars out.

But today, I came to clean it for the first time in a few weeks and some stupid DICK HEAD with a red car has taken a one inch chunk of paint out of the bumper and left a nice 8 inch scuff alongside it. I have no idea who it was but there is a bit of red paint left behind.

I estimate the cost of sanding down and respraying the bumper will be between £200 - £500 :’(

To ride shotgun is to sit in the front passenger seat when riding a car or other vehicle, a phrase commonly heard in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Due to the influence of American popular culture it is also heard in several European countries such as Iceland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as other countries with large English-speaking populations such as South Africa and Israel.

In contemporary tradition, in order to claim the seat, one must “call shotgun” according to some set of informal rules. It is the responsibility of each individual group to establish a formal set of shotgun rules. Most groups will also include some sort of forfeit as a punitive response to a shotgun violation.

You can find out more about the common rules here: http://www.shotgunrules.com/