The 36-year-old was forced to pull over in a taxi bay last month after she got a sudden phone call from her 13-year-old daughter who suffers from a debilitating skin condition. But just a few days later, she received a PCN notice from a parking firm named ES Parking Enforcement Ltd, telling her that she had to pay £100 within 28 days, or £60 within 14 days.
The mum appealed the fine stating her circumstances but has since been told she must pay the penalty, LancsLive reported.
The letter from ES Parking Enforcement Ltd, informing her that her appeal has been rejected, read: “Photographic evidence shows you did not park within a marked parking bay.
“There are multiple signs stating vehicles must be parked fully within the confines of a marked parking bay. The terms and conditions of parking at the above site were displayed.”
But she said she was “panicking” in the moment and pulled over because using a mobile phone while driving is illegal.
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“I wasn’t causing an obstruction, I wasn’t stopping anyone else on the car park and there wasn’t a taxi waiting to pull in and I wasn’t in somebody else’s space, and it was literally like a minutes, but it cost me a lot of money.
“It’s wrong on so many levels that there’s no phone number or a person that you can speak to and explain the situation; there’s just someone at the end of an email clicking on something.
“Are they reading it and understanding what people are saying? It just seemed to be very quickly rejected and it’s intimidating and frustrating.”
ES Parking Enforcement Ltd stated in the letter sent to the mum that she could opt to either pay a reduced fine within 14 days or use the Independent Appeals Service within 21 days.
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The 13-year-old also suffers from panic attacks.
The mum said she is used to getting phone calls from her daughter’s school telling her “she’s not breathing, can you come and get her?”
The mum herself also suffers from a rare condition called vasovagal syncope, which causes her to faint.
She said that her condition forces her to move slowly since she could faint at any time.
The mum has had the rare condition for seven years, and her daughter has also been suffering panic attacks for around the same length of time.
She added: “She’s suffered panic attacks for years so the school is very aware and they ring me up and say, she’s not breathing, can you come and get her?
“And she has dermographism and is allergic to touch.”