ChatGPT arms refinery worker in three-year parking fine standoff
Letters kept landing on Rafal Goral's doormat for three years. Each one ramped up the pressure, with Smart Parking Limited demanding payment and threatening court. Goral, who works at a refinery in Essex, refused to fold. Instead, he turned to ChatGPT for every move in his fight.
The trouble started after a summer trip to Newquay in August 2023. Goral tried to pay for parking, but a broken machine and a sluggish app left him 16 minutes over the car park's entry-to-payment window. The system clocked his car the moment he drove in. By the time the app finally worked, the late payment triggered an automatic penalty.
By the time the case was due to reach court, the total demand had risen to around £300, up from the original £100 notice and a previous £170 demand from debt collectors.
Smart Parking Limited sent the first £100 demand two weeks later. The sum jumped to £170, then the company threatened court. According to The Independent, the operator eventually dropped the case and confirmed the cancellation in a letter dated 25 September, just before the scheduled hearing. No public record from Smart Parking or the court confirms the withdrawal. At one stage, the company even lowered the demand to £60, but the legal threats dragged on into October 2026.
Goral faced a corporate legal team with only his own determination and ChatGPT. He uploaded every letter, then used the AI to draft replies and map out his defense. Goral says ChatGPT guided him on what to write and who to address, but this reflects his own account. The AI did not act as a legal representative. "From start to finish I was asking ChatGPT every time I got a letter what to do. It was telling me what to say, where to go, and everything," he said. "I did it all with the help of AI."
He refused to pay on principle. "From start to finish it was not about the money, I could pay it, but it is about the principle," Goral said. He called it a "David and Goliath battle" and said Smart Parking Limited finally gave up after years of pressure. The company stopped chasing him, and Goral said he felt "so happy" after three years of stress.
Available publications do not confirm a court ruling, legal precedent, or any change to private parking rules; the outcome was the operator dropping this specific claim before trial, not a judicial endorsement of Goral's arguments or ChatGPT's legal effectiveness.
Goral now tells others to stand their ground against automated fines and legal threats. "I want the public to know that they can do it and they shouldn't give up," he said. "People don't want to go through the hassle, so they just pay but it is wrong. It is shocking."
His case shows how AI tools like ChatGPT can help people push back in drawn-out disputes. Official records do not show any legal precedent or court ruling. The company simply dropped the claim before trial.
