A motorhome owner claims a parking fine he received while visiting his sister is “unlawful”, Yorkshire Live reports.
Steve Foakes was visiting his sister in Bournemouth on Tuesday evening, November 1 when he parked on the road and, leaving a space behind him so he didn’t block the car behind in, but parked partially on a dropped kerb.
He had parked at 5.30pm and by 5.47pm he noticed the penalty notice on the front of his Citroen-based motorhome.
He was fined £70 for blocking the kerb, with the option to just pay £35 if he could do so promptly.
However, Mr Foakes believes he was unfairly targeted by the fine. Soon after being fined, he took photos of “at least” seven other cars on the street which had also blocked dropped curbs but had not been fined.
He was soon told by the council he was fined because of a complaint by a resident.
“It’s not the fine that bothers me,” he told DorsetLive . “It’s the principle. My vehicle is parked partially blocking the dropped curb, but at least seven others are completely blocking it.
“One car behind my van there’s a space, then another dropped curb, and a car is completely blocking that one but was ignored.
“It’s blatant unlawful discrimination against me and my vehicle.
“I left my vehicle slightly back to be courteous, but now I cleared the curb I’m tight up to them.
“It seems so petty. Again, it’s not about the money for me, it’s the discrimination, against myself and the vehicle.
“Fair enough I’ve parked at a drop curb, but so have at least seven or eight other vehicles.
“I’ve just been singled out, maybe because it’s a campervan.”
An email to Mr Foakes, regarding the offence from this week, read: “Thank you for your email, in order for a Penalty Chare Notice to be issued for this type of contravention we must receive a report directly from the resident affected, once we have the report a Civil Enforcement Officer will be tasked to attend to review and issue a Penalty Charge Notice to the vehicle that we have received the report on, there is no discrimination based on the type of vehicle you are using.
“If we had received a report from the resident of the vehicle parked in front of you then a Penalty Charge Notice may have been issued to that vehicle too.
“Your vehicle was issued because we received a direct report from the resident that was affected.”
A BCP Council spokesperson said: “Parking in front of dropped kerbs can have an impact on the safety of people including those with lower levels of mobility such as wheelchair users and those with pushchairs.
“It can prevent members of the public from gaining access to the road or carriageway or from getting their vehicles in and out of their driveways.
“Members of the public are able to report blocked access by contacting our parking team via the BCP Council website where enforcement action may be taken.”
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