WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A West Palm Beach man said he nearly got taken for a ride after a simple typo at a parking kiosk led to an $85 bill for non-payment.
Stan Stephenson says he typed the letter "O" instead of the number zero when entering his Florida license plate at a payment kiosk in a downtown West Palm Beach parking lot. He said he has made the same mistake before without issue.
"Yes, and I've used that same entry throughout Florida," Stephenson said.
Stephenson received a bill for $75 for non-payment from Intrapark, the company that oversees the parking lot. After months of hitting a dead end, he provided proof of payment and a certified letter he sent to the parking company showing he had paid in full. The company then sent him another bill, now totaling $85.
After Stephenson continued to push back, Intrapark sent him an email explaining the parking citation was the result of him transposing the number zero with the letter "O."
"Florida in particular restricts the usage of the charter 'O' and has limited it to only '0,'" Intrapark said. "Unfortunately, not all states or territories carry this same restriction, so we cannot eliminate the characters entirely at time of validation."
The company said it will delete Stephenson's citation despite the mishap. Stephenson said that is all he wanted, and he hopes to warn others not to make the same mistake.
