I’m baffled after being fined £100 when I dropped my kids off at the pool – the signs aren’t clear
AN NHS worker has been left ‘baffled’ after being given a £100 parking fine for an 11-minute wait at a local leisure centre.
Catherine, a health professional in the NHS, was left confused when she was slapped with the fine after picking up her kids from swimming.
She has blasted the fine as “disproportionate” and blamed a recent change in the way parking is enforced.
Catherine, from Bristol, says she received the ticket on December 20, but that it didn’t state clearly what she had done wrong.
The notice referred to the “Hengrove park leisure centre (accessible) and noted that she stayed in the area from 4.15pm to 4.26pm.
Initially, the mum though it was due to a 10-minute restriction in a drop-off zone, but later found out it was because she had stopped in a disabled space.
There are two parking zones outside the centre, with a provision for blue badge holders and a time-limited drop-off zone.
Across the road there is a multi-storey car park with up to three hours of free parking.
She told Bristol Live: “There’s a drop-off and pick-up bay outside of the leisure centre, and I often drop my children off there, and they run in and go to the swimming pool.
“I also pick them up there, but I would never park in a disabled bay if that’s what the ticket is saying, but it’s not explicit.
“I don’t have £100 to pay for ten minutes allegedly in this parking space to drop off or pick my children up.
“I don’t even recall parking there [on that day], but the fact is even if I was parked there, it’s a ten-minute drop-off or pick-up; it’s worse than the airport!”
The fuming health worker went on to blame parking company Smart Parking Ltd for changing the parking system and “penalising their customers”, which she described as “baffling”.
She added: “The amount feels really disproportionate. It’s a massive amount of money.
“This hidden charge is going to bankrupt people like me, who have no idea about these new cameras and hidden charges. I am a single mum, trying to encourage my children to do something healthy and active.
“I think it’s a mercenary money-making scheme, and the council should be ashamed for enabling it.”
Catherine said that she initially thought of paying the fine “out of fear” and that she hasn’t been able to speak to anyone at Smart Parking.
She said: “I’m very law-abiding, and these sorts of things make me really anxious. I can’t bear the idea that it says it could be passed onto a debt recovery agent.
“It’s all automated, the only options are you can contest it in writing or online, but you can’t speak to anyone.
“I didn’t bother ringing [the leisure centre] because I just assumed they would say, ‘it’s nothing to do with us; we don’t run the parking’.”
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: “The city’s leisure centres are operated by contractors and arrangements for use of the car parks are at their discretion and decisions are made by those contractors.”
A spokesperson for Smart Parking said: “Smart Parking were brought into manage the car park at Hengrove Park Leisure Centre to prevent parking abuse and ensure people who use the centre can always find somewhere to park.
“In the case of this motorist she parked in a designated disabled parking area for over 11 minutes without providing evidence she was a blue badge holder, so correctly received a charge.”
A spokesperson for the leisure centre said that customers were not allowed to park or wait in disabled bays and that this is made clear by the signage in the car park.
They added: “All customers of the centre can park for up to three hours at no cost in our main car park across the road from the centre and simply need to follow all the signs in the car parks and register their vehicle’s details at reception to avoid being charged.”