A woman who was handed a parking fine after falling and not returning to her car on time claims that such charges unfairly punish disabled people.
Jeanne was just 16 minutes late getting back to her vehicle at Kingston Shopping Centre car park in Hull last September - resulting in an immediate £100 fine, Hull Live reports.
She tried to appeal to the charge from Smart Parking as she had taken a tumble while walking to her vehicle which slowed her down, before having to wait a while to drive due to a heart condition.
In her first attempt to have the fine scrapped, she had forgotten about the fall as the payment notice was issued a month after the incident, but in a following appeal to an independent authority she was rejected even after explaining the circumstances.
As a gesture of goodwill, Smart Parking have now cancelled the charge after hearing about Jeanne's ordeal on the day of the fine.
Jeanne said: "I couldn't believe it when the letter came through, I couldn't even remember being late back to my car so I appealed and said I thought disabled people had more time with a blue badge.
"The first appeal was turned down and I told my daughter about it and she reminded me that the day of the fine was when I'd had a fall.
"Disabled people take a bit longer doing things anyway and lots of shops still had Covid restrictions at that time so it was only one or two in at a time.
"I had a fall going back to the car park because of my mobility, when I got to the car I had to wait for my heart to calm down because I have a condition and it wouldn't have been safe to drive."
Jeanne pointed out that even if she had wanted to pay for extra time at the car park, she wouldn't have been able to as the system requires a smartphone payment and she doesn't have mobile data.
After Jeanne's initial appeal against the fine was turned down she turned to Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) with the full details of her fall but was turned down once again.
Her fine was upped to £170 with final notices being sent with warnings of bailiff action if she did not pay up.
She said she would go to court to fight the fine which she felt showed a lack of compassion to disabled motorists.
Jeanne said: "I've been back and there is a way to pay for extra time but it is only on a smartphone, there isn't a machine to put more time on your car if you need it.
"When I went on Facebook to look the company up I saw about 80 percent of the complaints were from disabled people, it is vulnerable people that are being caught out by this most of the time.
"There needs to be a bit more understanding and a bit more empathy from these companies when it comes to blue badge holders, it isn't fair and it's not right. "
A Smart Parking spokesperson said: “Smart Parking operate a BPA audited appeals service, and we encourage motorists to contact us if they feel they have been incorrectly charged.
"Ms Young did appeal to us, but made no mention of having an accident, but instead said she assumed parking was free for 2 hours.
"This is not the case and is clearly highlighted on numerous signs positioned around the car park. In light of this we rejected her appeal.
"She subsequently contacted the independent appeals service POPLA, who also rejected her appeal.
"However, now we have been given this additional information we have cancelled the charge as an act of goodwill."
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