Man ends up with £155 parking fine after going to help woman who fell over
A man was given a hefty parking ticket while helping an elderly woman who had broken her hip.
Good Samaritan Alastair Kelly, 45, had popped out for a sandwich when he noticed the pensioner had fallen over and badly hurt herself outside of a Marks and Spencer in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Seeing the badly injured woman, Alastair called an ambulance – which took over two hours to arrive – before finally returned to his car, where he was greeted by a £105 ticket.
Speaking about the June 15 incident, Alastair said: ‘It’s big source of frustration, when you are being fined for doing a good deed, I just don’t understand how I can be fined for this.
‘I saw it and immediately went over to help as I’m first aid trained. The woman was partially blind and in her 90s and had broken her hip.’
Alastair appealed the fine on parking company Euro Car Parks, believing the extenuating circumstance would rid him of the hefty ticket.
The parking company’s website mentioned ‘extreme circumstances’ as a reason to appeal, which requires users to provide evidence of a medical emergency which prevented a driver from returning to their vehicle.
‘I thought, that’s bang on,’ Alastair said.
He then provided the company with call logs to prove he was giving medical assistance and had called an ambulance, but was shocked when he was told they were rejecting his appeal.
To add insult to injury, as he hadn’t paid the initial £50 fine in time, it was increased to £155.
Alastair says the situation is ‘extremely unfair’, saying the stress of dealing with a first aid crisis was bad enough – and the fine made it worse.
He said: ‘When I called 999 they specifically told me to stay with the patient, I couldn’t just say to the lady, “Do you mind just waiting while I go move my car?”.
Alastair has since paid the fine as he didn’t want his credit score to be impacted, but spoke to local solicitor first about challenging the fine in court, but was advised the cost would be more than the fine paid.
Euro Car Parks have been contacted for comment.
Two NHS workers were previously hounded by a car park management firm after leaving their cars while tending to a dying patient.
In 2022, Linda Somboongedd and Stacey Batten left their cars on an estate in Canterbury for about 40 minutes on consecutive days to help the man, who passed away shortly after.
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