'Absolute nonsense': Mum's fury over 'unreasonable' £50 fine in Heaton Park ticket row

31.07.2022 - 09:49 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

A mum-of-two said she has been hit with an ‘unreasonable’ £50 parking fine in Heaton Park.

Amanda Foxman, from Watford, Hertfordshire, visited the beauty spot with her her husband and their two children, aged 8 and 11, for a stroll. Having left her vehicle in the Garden Centre car park, the family came back to find they had been issued with a £50 Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) from Manchester Council for parking beyond the bay markings.

Amanda, who works for a management consultancy, said she had no idea she had used a prohibited parking space on June 3. “We were visiting the park with the kids to see the squirrels,” Amanda told the M.E.N.

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“I had parked in what I thought was a standard bay spot and paid for my parking via the app. It was a really nice day but coming back to a parking fine wasn’t really part of the plan.”

Speaking about the spot she had parked in, Amanda explained: “There was a white line on the ground next to where I parked where the double yellow lines ended. I had thought this marked the end of the parking bay,

“The only thing I didn’t realise at the time is that the bay didn’t have a white T marking on the floor, like the other bays. But I wasn’t obstructing anyone, I wasn't causing any issues at all. There was nothing to say there was no parking.”

Amanda said she has since written to the council over the parking fine to explain the situation but the local authority has said it could not cancel the PCN because part of the vehicle was parked 'outside the bay markings', which is 'fully enforceable'.

The council said that the pre-existing signs and road markings at