Anger over parking fine after mum fell ill at Charlton Shopping Centre in Dover
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00:0013th of August, my mum's birthday. I took her to Charter Centre Cafe, where she took a turn for the worse.
00:10She was in a wheelchair, she suffers fibromyalgia and she had a bad back, so I got a call that she'd had a dizzy spell.
00:20She suffers from vertigo. I've come to this car park to pick her up, thinking that it's like every other car park in Dover.
00:28I put my mum's disabled badge down, walked, picked her up, put the wheelchair in the car, my mum in the car, drove out, thought nothing of it.
00:39And then a couple of days later, got a parking fine for originally £60, but we've now got £40, £100 in pay.
00:47And Rita, if you want to tell me a bit more about your disability and vertigo and how does that impact you in terms of going out?
00:55I don't go out very often at all, because I never know when one of these spells just happens.
01:03I might be walking around somewhere and then I'm dizzy, but I'm also not just dizzy but violently sick, so I need to get home.
01:16I mean, I can carry a bucket in the car.
01:21Has it affected your confidence in terms of going out?
01:24Oh yeah, definitely. I just don't want to go out, you know, why should I go out?
01:36Why do you think that they should overturn this?
01:40It's compassion really. At the end of the day, it's a mistake that was made and, you know, people make mistakes.
01:52Again, I'd do well to have paid for the parking ticket, I'd have checked the signs, but because I don't park in there, I've never parked in that car park.
02:01I just took it for granted that it was the same as every other car park where you display a disabled badge and you get three hours locked back.
02:08And do you think some leeway should be given for what would you describe as an emergency like this?
02:13Yeah, definitely, definitely. I mean, like I say, at the end of the day, I know I'm biased because it's my mum, but if it's for anybody, if they're ill, give them a bit of credit, give them a bit of leeway.