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A driver in England used ChatGPT to draft letters and a court defence in a three-year parking-charge dispute. SlashGear reports the case ended with him owing nothing, but the parking company has not said why it dropped it, so the chatbot cannot claim the win.

Rafal Goral was charged £100 after his parking-app payment arrived 16 minutes after he entered the car park. He says ChatGPT helped draft replies to the operator and debt collectors, as well as his court defence. The hearing was due in October 2026; he says he learned on 25 September that the case was over. The story is a practical glimpse of people turning to chatbots for legal paperwork, not evidence that ChatGPT’s advice settled the dispute. Smart Parking told The Independent that the payment machines were working that day, and its reason for dropping the case remains unclear. Legal correspondence can be useful drafting work, but it is not a substitute for legal advice.

Discuss: Should chatbots help people draft legal correspondence when they cannot reliably tell users whether their arguments are sound?

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