British comedian comes up with genius loophole to escape parking tickets — and reveals it on national TV

Parking fines can be a burden for commuters who rarely admit fault but pay up to avoid trouble. Many feel they have no choice but to accept these hefty penalties—even when they believe they're undeserved. However, British comedian Joe Lycett took a hilariously bizarre stand against a puzzling traffic violation. Unafraid to challenge the parking ticket, the 36-year-old comic, who appeared on Channel 4 Entertainment, explained how he saved himself by taking a recourse no one would have ever imagined. In a widely shared YouTube video from the show “8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown,” Lycett was seen narrating a fascinating tale while imparting an important life lesson to the authorities.

When the popular comedy show’s host, Jimmy Carr, asked Lycett for his take on parking tickets, the comedian came up with an “interesting story” of his own. “I get a lot of parking fines, and I’ve realized that if you ask for evidence, you can often get out of the fine,” he told the panel. Lycett then recalled how he was fined after a show in Northern England in 2015. Instead of simply paying the fine, he emailed the council to request evidence for his alleged traffic violation. He received a response from a woman named Steph, who wrote, “Mr. Lycett, I have passed your email onto the Freedom of Information team. Hopefully, they will be in touch with you soon.”

When Lycett saw this response, he feared the conversation would lead nowhere. Instead of backing down, he sent another fierce response email, this time humorously to the point. “Now, I didn’t like that word 'hopefully,' so I replied, ‘Steph, sadly and hopefully doth butter no parsnips.’” This prompted the entire panel, including the host, to burst into laughter. Subtly emphasizing that flattery or fancy speech wouldn’t get the job done, the comic continued, “Can I have an email address for the person you’ve contacted at the FOI team? My lawyers would like to contact them directly. You have been very helpful, and hopefully, you won’t get caught up in the forthcoming.”

Lycett’s calibrated response attracted enough attention that Steph had to forward it to higher authorities, in this case, the FOI team. While informing him about the same, she quipped, “Mr. Lycett, I am not sure what you mean by buttered parsnips.” Following this, the comic received another email from Colin, who, in a similar tone, said, “Mr. Lycett, your request is very broad, so I’ve assumed you only want information pertinent to your recent parking fine. Attached is the evidence we have, which consists of photographs of your car clearly parked in a taxi rank.” When Lycett clicked on the photographs, he discovered that his car’s window had been spray-painted with the words 'Taxi Rank,' presumably by a “disgruntled taxi driver.”

Nowhere did it show that the vehicle was parked incorrectly. “So, I went back to Colin, didn’t I? 'Mr. Colin, when you assume, you make an a** out of you and me. I would argue this evidence is insufficient.' I also added, 'PS, apologies for the delay in replying to your previous email. I am currently on the Costa del Sol. I have provided evidence of this.’” The comedian had attached a smiling picture of himself holding a placard with the famous Spanish tourist destination mentioned on it. Just because Colin had asked Lycett for evidence to reverse the fine, the latter concluded, “Oh! Mr. Colin, evidence supplied. I was actually parked on the moon, as you can see clearly.” And this time around, it was a picture of his car’s window with the word “moon” written on it.