£70 fine for seven-second parking gaff

A CHARITY worker has learned a pricey lesson after being fined £70 by a council for a seven-second stop on zig-zag lines outside a school.

Joyce Sale was dropping off charity concert leaflets at the primary school when she was captured by a parking camera car operated by Birmingham City Council.

She then received a council letter in the post with details of the penalty notice, working out at £10 for every second her car was stopped.

The 71-year-old has had an appeal against the fine turned down, with the council saying enforcing "important road safety measures" around schools was "paramount".

Bosses at the Birmingham St George's Day Association, the charity Ms Sale was delivering the literature for, said they would pay the fine for former care worker Ms Sale, of South Yardley, but were stunned the council had not decided to wave it given the circumstances.

She described the fine as "ludicrous", adding she had only stopped to see how she could get onto the school site after spotting the gates were barred.

"It was my first time going to the school and it was absolutely pouring with rain," she said.

"So when I got there, I could see the gates were shut, and there was just nowhere to park.

"So I pulled up, and then I heard this tapping on my window and there was a man there and he pointed across the street to this camera car."

The mobile CCTV car recorded Ms Sale, who also volunteers for Troop Aid and works with Alzheimer's sufferers, stationary for a few seconds on the ziz-zag lines outside St Benedict's Infant School, in Small Heath.

David Ward, chairman of the St George's Day Association, said: "We will stand the cost of the ticket. We just can't believe it really.

"We thought that once we explained to the council what Joyce was doing, they would drop it (the fine) given the circumstances."

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: "We put an appropriate level of parking enforcement into any location, to ensure that we are complying with our traffic regulation and safety responsibilities.

"Drivers have the right to appeal against any notice they feel is issued unfairly and, in this case, that process has been followed and the notice has been upheld.

"We would also point out that the safety and wellbeing of those travelling to and from schools is paramount and that parking restrictions, including zig-zag lines, are important safety measures."

By Richard Vernalls, Press Association