Nurse in parking row after being ticketed outside Sheffield home

Nicole Crapper was issued with the £35 penalty charge notice after she parked her car on the verge on Wordsworth Avenue.

She said: “I’ve been here four years in June and never had a problem. I park my car on the supposedly grass verge which has never seen grass. It is just mud and has always been like it.”

Nicole said that the officers issuing the charge only ticketed her and her mother’s car when lots of others were parking on the verges further down the same road. There are no signs warning people not to park at that spot, where she has parked for the past four years.

Nicole is an NHS community support worker who has to go out at any time.

She added: “To park my car I now have to go for a five minute walk from my house and I don’t know if that’s going to void my car insurance.

"I told them it’s not a grass verge. It used to be one but there’s nothing there any more, it’s just rubble., which we have had to fill ourselves from time to time. We don’t park on the pavement or on the road which has double yellow lines"I don’t understand the parking ticket. It states parked on a restricted street during prescribed hours – what has that got to do with the verge?”

Ben Brailsford, head of parking services at Sheffield City Council, said: “Parking on pavements and verges causes damage, resulting in costly repairs and issues for pedestrians and road users.

"Double yellow lines protect verges and the footpath as well as the road, so if someone parks on or next to them, as in this case, they may receive a PCN.

“We are working in areas across the city where verge damage is particularly bad, which includes Wordsworth. We ask people to refrain from parking on verges to help keep our roads and footpaths in the best possible condition.

“All drivers have a right to appeal and can do so online at sheffield.gov.uk/parking, or by writing to us at the address on the back of the ticket.”

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