Man gets fined $132 for taking too long to pay for parking. Years later, ChatGPT writes his legal defense and the case gets dropped
Does this mean he's putting ChatGPT on retainer?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a widely debated tool in recent years, and many question whether it has a place in legal settings. But one man allegedly made ChatGPT his very own legal advisor after a company issued him a fine for taking too long to pay for his parking, sparking a three-year standoff that ultimately ended with the company dropping the case.
In August 2023, 45-year-old refinery worker Rafal Goral went to park his car in Newquay, Cornwall, when he experienced an issue with the parking lot’s payment machine. With the machine not accepting card payments, Goral had to download an app and create an account. By the time he finished paying, 16 minutes had passed since his car’s entry into the lot was logged, per The Independent.
There was little fanfare following the incident, until two weeks later. According to Goral, a notice for £100 (around $132) arrived from the parking company, Smart Parking Limited, which cited him for paying after 16 minutes of entering the parking lot. Goral said he tried to dispute the charge in September, but it wasn’t until January that he finally received a response. However, the late payment allegedly increased his fine to £170 (around $225).
ChatGPT was like Goral’s legal advisor
“I appealed straight away, and I heard nothing from them,” Goral said. “They were harassing me and sending me letters saying that I had to go to court. They were trying to make me scared.”
In response, Goral allegedly turned to ChatGPT for help, uploading the emails and letters from the debt collectors and asking how he should respond. For the next three years, this had been Goral’s go-to move whenever he received a notice of collection, referring to the AI’s guidance on “what to say, where to go, and everything.”
For four months, Goral went back and forth with the debt collectors until the company put his case “on hold.” Over a year and a half went by before he heard from them again in November 2025, this time from a different debt collection company that allegedly told him his case was being forwarded to court in October 2026.
“I am their customer. How can you treat your customer like that?” Goral said. Smart Parking Limited, however, allegedly offered to lower the fine to £60 (around $79), but Goral refused, saying his persistence was out of principle. “From start to finish it was not about the money. I could pay it, but it is about the principle,” he said. “If you know you are right, then you shouldn’t be paying any money to them.”
The company eventually dropped the case
Goral claimed he attempted to seek advice from the Citizens Advice helpline multiple times, but he didn’t receive the kind of help he was looking for. In the end, he returned to ask for ChatGPT’s help in crafting the defense he sent to court. This isn’t the first time ChatGPT was used to write a defense, as one lawyer made use of the technology to prepare his murder appeal.
Just a few weeks shy of the court date, Goral said his fine was upped again to £300 (around $397). However, he allegedly received an email from the company in September saying the case had been dropped, ultimately freeing him from the fine and ending the three-year dispute.
Goral, on the other hand, saw this as a major win. “This is kind of a David and Goliath battle. They have lawyers, and they are a big company, and they just gave up in the end,” Goral said. “I was so ready to go to court, I would have gone all the way to the high courts. I won the war without the final battle.”
It remains unclear what exactly prompted the company to drop the case—whether it was due to the AI-generated defense over the years or simply because the company decided the case had dragged on for too long. Nevertheless, Goral was delighted by the results and hoped that his experience would encourage others to challenge charges they believe are unfair.
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