A WOMAN in Okehampton has said she is ‘very angry’ at West Devon Borough Council for failing to consider her appeal against a parking fine — despite only being late due to tending to her elderly aunt after a fall.

In October, Pamela Dunnage parked her car in the borough council’s pay and display car park. She was visiting Chagford with her elderly disabled aunt who was visiting from Spain.

After enjoying a lunch together, Ms Dunnage’s aunt had a fall and Pamela stayed to assist and wait for her to recover before going back to her car, 20 minutes after her parking ticket had expired. As she got to her car, a parking attendant was writing her up a ticket.

She said: ‘I spoke to the attendant and tried to explain what had happened but he replied “I have already registered the information and the ticket has been issued”. I asked for his name but he just showed me the number on his badge and while walking off said if I wanted to appeal I would have to contact the council.

‘I appealed and this was rejected. The response was “After careful consideration your appeal has been rejected”. I appealed again and spoke to a person at West Devon Borough Council who said I would receive an e-mail. I waited for this e-mail to arrive but coincidentally I received a further parking fine which had increased from £25 to £50 along with an e-mail rejecting my appeal on the very same day so I had no chance to speak to anyone again regarding this as they had already issued another increased fine.

‘I am very angry that these people show no compassion or understanding under these circumstances. Was I supposed to leave my aunt on the floor and say “Oh, hang on, because you have fallen I think my time has run out on my car parking ticket so just wait there while I run to the car park and check?”

‘My aunt was shaken but okay after the fall, however she was very upset that I had received this parking fine because of what had happened.

‘The only reason I think they are refusing my appeal is because they don’t look any further than the fact that I had not returned to my car in time, regardless of what I had tried to explain to them. They showed no compassion or empathy. They in fact said there was no evidence!

‘For heaven’s sake, this is outrageous. Under any other circumstances I would have just paid the fine as I obviously understand that if I am late back to my car and the ticket has expired then that is my fault. However this was a completely different situation.‘

A West Devon Borough Council spokesperson said: ‘We have every sympathy with the complainant, however without any supporting evidence, we are unable to reconsider penalty charge notices. We ask for this to make sure that we deal with all situations fairly. 

‘In light of the complainant’s claim that she did not receive our letter, we have reduced the penalty charge notice to the original amount.’