Rachel Woodward had been issued with a £100 fine after turning her car around in a private car park (Picture: Lancs Live/MEN MEDIA)
A driver who popped into a charity shop to drop off donations has hit out at what emerged to be an expensive day out.
Rachel Woodward had parked up outside the Salvation Army charity shopon Pall Mall in Chorley, Lancashire earlier this month.
She claims to have been away from her car for mere minutes.
But that was enough time for parking officers to slap a penalty on her while carrying out a good deed.
Rachel’s mum, Linda, had accompanied her daughter to drop off the items and remained in the car.
Rachel told LancsLive: ‘I jumped into the car and said to my mum, oh my goodness! Then, we saw the signs and I quickly drove off – it wasn’t even two minutes. I then pulled up on the actual pavement outside the charity shop and unloaded.
‘The manager of the charity shop said that we should be absolutely fine, as we were only there for two minutes.’
After dropping off her items, Rachel noted that she had more belongings at home that she wanted to give to the charity and asked whether she could return.
Rachel used this private car park to temporarily leave her car (Picture: Google Maps)
Within the hour, Rachel arrived back at the Salvation Army, but this time she parked in front of the shop straight away.
She continued: ‘As I was leaving, I reversed back onto that car park to get onto the main road.
‘Where I had parked, it was at a bus stop and it was also at a traffic lights and I thought it was too dangerous to start making a manoeuvre. So, I reversed back onto the original car park, turned right and drove off.’
However, Rachel then received a letter in the post from ES Parking Enforcement Ltd, fining her £100 for leaving her vehicle in the car park – but claiming she was there for 48 minutes and 54 seconds.
The mum believes the parking company clocked her Kia Ceed arriving in the car park on Elmwood Court at 1.07pm, but it did not snap her leaving two minutes later.
Instead, it appears that ES Parking Enforcement have used Rachel’s reversing at 1.56pm as the time she was exiting the area, suggesting she had been there for nearly an hour.
Rachel was left ‘furious’ at the mix-up.
She added: ‘I was on the car park for two minutes, I pulled off and unloaded, drove home, came back to my house with my mum – by the way, my mum is a witness and my car engine hadn’t even been turned off.
‘Most charity shops, you have to check in whether you can donate, so I ran in to see if they were and that’s when the lady said, don’t park there.
‘I ran back to my car, jumped in and took it straight off – it wasn’t even two minutes. The fact of the matter is that they’ve sent me this parking charge, saying that I’ve got a duration of 48 minutes which is a complete lie.’
Rachel has appealed to ES Parking Enforcement Ltd about the fine, but has yet to hear back from the company.
Metro.co.uk has contacted ES Parking Enforcement Ltd for comment.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
‘The manager of the charity shop said that we should be absolutely fine, as we were only there for two minutes.’
