Parking fines cost me my job, life and vehicle
Bromley Times
A TAXI driver is distraught after traffic wardens twice ticketed her for displaying her disabled parking badge incorrectly.
Bailiffs are now chasing Andrea Machin, 62, for £772.80, and have threatened to seize her car.
She said: "If they take my car I can't get about and more importantly I can't earn any money. I cannot walk very far and I cannot stand at all. My car is my lifeline."
Mrs Machin, from Brambledown, Hartley, received her first ticket from traffic wardens on April 4 in Chislehurst High Street.
Bromley council claimed her disabled badge was obscured by the clock she was using to show how long she had been parked.
"It was quite legally parked so I sent it back to them and said they must be joking.
"There was no way they couldn't tell it was a genuine disabled badge holder. All the details on the badge were legible."
On May 9, Mrs Machin was ticketed again in Ravensbourne Road, this time for displaying her parking badge face down.
It is amazing you can get fined for putting it the wrong way up. I didn't even bother to reply I was just so disgusted. Now it is going to cost me my job, my life and my car."
Mrs Machin, who has hip problems, did not contact the council over the fines because she was battling depression.
Now the two fines have been inflated to more than £700 with fees.
Bromley council has advised Mrs Machin to get in touch with them "with as much information as supports her case as possible".
A spokesman said: "We need to enforce parking restrictions fairly and reasonably for everybody, which includes disabled badge holders, and in both cases crucial details were obscured.
"The danger with simply ignoring a car that is apparently displaying a disabled badge is that we have no way of knowing at the time whether that badge is being used fraudulently or not."
patrick.clift@archant.co.uk
A TAXI driver is distraught after traffic wardens twice ticketed her for displaying her disabled parking badge incorrectly.
Bailiffs are now chasing Andrea Machin, 62, for £772.80, and have threatened to seize her car.
She said: "If they take my car I can't get about and more importantly I can't earn any money. I cannot walk very far and I cannot stand at all. My car is my lifeline."
Mrs Machin, from Brambledown, Hartley, received her first ticket from traffic wardens on April 4 in Chislehurst High Street.
Bromley council claimed her disabled badge was obscured by the clock she was using to show how long she had been parked.
"It was quite legally parked so I sent it back to them and said they must be joking.
"There was no way they couldn't tell it was a genuine disabled badge holder. All the details on the badge were legible."
On May 9, Mrs Machin was ticketed again in Ravensbourne Road, this time for displaying her parking badge face down.
It is amazing you can get fined for putting it the wrong way up. I didn't even bother to reply I was just so disgusted. Now it is going to cost me my job, my life and my car."
Mrs Machin, who has hip problems, did not contact the council over the fines because she was battling depression.
Now the two fines have been inflated to more than £700 with fees.
Bromley council has advised Mrs Machin to get in touch with them "with as much information as supports her case as possible".
A spokesman said: "We need to enforce parking restrictions fairly and reasonably for everybody, which includes disabled badge holders, and in both cases crucial details were obscured.
"The danger with simply ignoring a car that is apparently displaying a disabled badge is that we have no way of knowing at the time whether that badge is being used fraudulently or not."
patrick.clift@archant.co.uk
posted by Neil Herron at 3:56 PM
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