Caring for her dying father '˜not sufficient grounds' to avoid Chichester parking fine

A tearful Paula Parker said she buried her 84-year-old father on Tuesday and only this morning (Thursday, February 4) received an email saying her challenge had been refused because she did not have ‘sufficient grounds’ to appeal.

Paula said she had been caring for her terminally ill father, who lived at Green Lane, Chichester, for several weeks and had always displayed the correct parking vouchers for the resident permit road.

But after staying one night to look after him she simply forgot to put a new ticket in her car the next morning, and at 9.45am she had the £35 ticket.

The email from Chichester District Council states: “You state in your correspondence that you have been staying with your father who lives in Green Lane.

“You mention that your father is terminally ill, and on the morning of the Penalty Charge Notice being issued, you were seeing to your father’s needs, therefore 45 minutes late displaying a parking voucher.

“Chichester District Council has considered your challenge and it is felt that the reasons leading to your vehicle being parked in contravention of the regulations are not sufficient grounds for the Penalty Charge Notice to be cancelled.

“Without a valid resident’s permit or resident’s visitor permit your vehicle was not entitled to park in this bay.”

Speaking to the Observer, Paula said: “I think it’s disgusting, I burst out crying when I read the email.

“It was a genuine mistake on my part, I had other things on my mind and to say to me that looking after my dying father is not sufficient grounds to appeal is callous and so insensitive.

“It makes me feel like my dad dying is insignificant. We only laid him to rest on Tuesday, I was feeling like he was at last at peace and now this has really upset me.”

Her sister Laura Gray added: “Paula was there tending to our father every day for seven weeks and apart from that one time she always displayed a parking voucher.

“It cost dad a lot of money and when she got the ticket she had the previous day’s vouchers on display in her car.

“Dad’s funeral was only a few days ago, she’s absolutely devastated. I want to know what better reason is there to forget to display a parking voucher then nursing your dying father?”

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