Dad slams supermarket over parking ticket
AN angry dad has slammed supermarket parking policies after being slapped with a ticket for leaving his car in the wrong bay.
AN angry dad has slammed supermarket parking policies after being slapped with a ticket for leaving his car in the wrong bay.
Guy Hunt was out shopping with his partner Rachel Wilson and three-year-old son Arran at Asda, in Marina Way, Hartlepool, and went to park as he normally does in a parent and toddler bay.
But as the spaces were all full, he says he had no choice but to leave his car in a disabled bay as he needs extra space to get his son out of his child seat and did not want to risk causing damage to anyone's car.
The 23-year-old is now boycotting the store after being landed with a 30 ticket, which could rocket to 60 if he does not pay within 10 days.
Guy, a non-destructive testing technician who lives in Doyle Walk, Hartlepool, said he noticed that the majority of cars in the child parking bays did not have child car seats and added: "People do take these children's spaces when they haven't even got children, and other people need them.
"A lot of people even take car seats when they haven't actually got children with them just to park there.
"I think it's disgraceful and unfair that I've got this ticket when other people get away with parking in parent bays without kids."
Guy and full-time mum Rachel, 20, had only been in the store for 15 minutes and returned to find the ticket on their Volkswagen Passat.
He said he approached the parking attendant to explain the situation.
"He said I got the ticket because I didn't have a disabled badge on show," said Guy.
"I said a lot of cars in the child spaces didn't have car seats, but he said people might have an 11-year-old in the car.
"I thought the purpose of the child spaces was purely for people to have extra space to get car seats in and out."
Guy, who has written a letter to Asda to contest the ticket, added: "I think it is disgraceful that Asda are employing a company to catch drivers out like this."
An Asda spokesperson said Guy's parking ticket still stands and added: "We are very popular with families and unfortunately the 24 parent and child parking bays at our Hartlepool store do fill up quickly at peak times.
"In this case the customer chose to park in a disabled bay, meaning one of our disabled customers would be prevented from parking there. We can reassure Mr Hunt that Asda takes parking space abuse very seriously.
"We monitor all our car parks to try to prevent customers without children from parking in parent and child spaces.
"Customers that do bend the rules will be issued with a fine, with all proceeds going directly to Tommy's, the baby charity."
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Weather for Peterlee
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -3 C to 1 C
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