'I parked in Wickes Sheffield car park for 15 minutes to pick up sons - I was sent £100 fine'
Rachel Armitage just wanted to get her two autistic sons home safely from the popular festival
A Sheffield mum who wanted to get her children home from Tramlines safely was hit with a £100 fine - because she parked in a shop car park for 15 minutes.
Rachel Armitage just wanted to get her two autistic sons home safely from the popular festival when she parked up in the Wickes car park near the junction of Penistone Road and Rutland Road.
With many roads around Hillsborough Park closed, she, like many others, arranged to meet her sons afterwards on the nearby car park.
Rachel, from Nether Edge, Sheffield, said she arrived and found many other mums and dads in the same boat. She even enjoyed the atmosphere, as parents chatted together near their vehicles, she explained.
One by one, they hugged their children, got back in their cars and set off home, happy and safe after a great day of entertainment.
Rachel got her 20-year-old sons, who have a form of autism, home safely.
That was Sunday July 26. But she was soon in for a shock.
Less than a week later a letter arrived through her door - she had been sent a fine for parking for just 15 minutes in the DIY chain’s car park, even though it was closed for the night when she was there.
After a long battle against the fine, it has finally been rescinded, after The Star contacted both Wickes and the parking company G24 over the matter.
But Rachel remains angry that the fine was issued in the first place and is concerned that many other people may have been stung by the same fines, which she described as “a racket”.
She said: “I dread to think which other poor families were charged and being pursued for £100 by Wickes/G24 for a 10 minute safe collection of their kids, as on the night there were plenty of us. I hope the company don’t pursue them too.”
She added: “If they didn’t want anyone in the car park they should have put a barrier down. Wider organisations know what is going on during Tramlines, and we were not taking parking spaces away from someone who was going to shop there.
“I feel that it was a racket, a money making scheme. I just think it looks really bad on Wickes. People will not just be blaming the car parking company.”
I dread to think which other poor families were charged and being pursued for £100
The letter that told of her the fine said she was there from 9.33pm until 9.49pm.
Rachel said last year she had parked in a B&Q car park, without problem, but this year she could not access that one.
“This was just not in the spirit of Tramlines,” she said.
Wickes issued a statement denying any responsibility for the fines.
The firm said: “The car parks at our stores are managed directly by the landowners, rather than Wickes, meaning we are not involved in the issuing of parking charges.”
G24, the parking management company which issued the fines, said the Wickes Sheffield North car park was monitored using Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras.
The firm said in a statement: “The car park is for customers only and has a restriction on parking between 9pm and 5am. These measures help ensure spaces remain available for genuine Wickes customers and that the car park is not used outside store trading hours or during local events and festivals.
“The site does not use barrier controls and the parking rules are clearly communicated through signage displayed throughout the car park.
“In this instance, a parking charge was issued because the vehicle was parked outside the permitted hours. However, following a request from our client, Wickes, the charge has been cancelled.
“As part of our commitment to transparency and best practice, we operate a British Parking Association (BPA) audited appeals process for motorists who believe they have been incorrectly issued with a parking charge.
“The appeals process is straightforward and accessible, and we encourage motorists to engage with it to provide any relevant background, mitigating circumstances and supporting evidence for review.”