Disabled woman calls out council for 'unfair' ticket after car breaks down in Sandy

Avril Young, 65, was driving down Station Road, Sandy, when her vehicle suffered an electrical fault and came to a halt around three feet from the curb near The Bell pub – leaving her stranded in town until her partner, Colin Winter, arrived.

Despite leaving a note on the car to say what happened – and a punter at the pub telling the attendent that Avril had broken down – the couple were issued a parking ticket, and an attempt to fight it proved unsuccessful.

Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) says that after being asked to provide additional information, the couple made the payment.

But Colin said: "I felt that I had sent enough details. A photo of the van, a police incident number, people from The Bell telling them it had broken down – how much proof do they need? I only paid so they couldn't double it up to £70."

Avril said: "The car just cut off. It was a double yellow line of all places, but there was nothing I could do. I wrote a message to say sorry, and went to the pub to tell them what happened. I didn't have my phone with me or anything."

Avril struggles to walk long distances due to her disabilities, including fibromyalgia and acute heart failure.

As she had been on her way to the hairdressers, she walked round the corner to Trim and Proper, Sandy, and used their telephone to ring Colin.

Her partner promtly called the RAC, who came out to move the car, with customers and staff from the pub helping to move it into the The Bell car park so there was room to load it onto the trailer.

Avril added: "I want to thank every person for being so helpful; it's nice to have human kindness.”

But when Colin and Avril arrived at the car to meet the RAC, they also found the ticket.

Colin claimed: "CBC say it was parked in a restricted area. To me, the definition of parked is when someone intentionally places a vehicle somwehere. This not about the money, it's all about the principal.

"The police were even surprised that we were issued a parking ticket. What can we expect from CBC if they do something like this?"

A CBC spokeswoman, said: “We issued a Penalty Charge Notice to this vehicle on May 23, because it was parked on a restriction. An informal challenge was received from the motorist, who stated their vehicle had broken down and advised us they could provide evidence to support this.

“Our Penalty Charge Notice cancellation policy is designed to ensure fairness and consistency for all motorists; we cannot rely solely on a motorists' statement when a Penalty Charge Notice is challenged. We do ask for supporting evidence to accurately assess individual cases.

“The motorist received a response from us on May 30, asking them to submit additional information e.g. proof of the breakdown assistance provided by the RAC for the case to be reconsidered, however the motorist proceeded to make the payment on June 2 without providing the requested information and the case was closed.”