Parking firm refuses to waive fine for midwife visiting new mother

Kara Fielder, 34, refused to pay a fine given while she was visiting a patient
Alex Lentati
Justin Davenport31 October 2016

A midwife is facing a court battle after she refused to pay a £70 parking ticket issued while she was conducting an essential home visit to a new mother and her baby.

Kara Fielder, 34, said there was no sign saying she could not park at the spot in Hayes and no ticket on her car when she returned.

Ms Fielder, who left a “midwife on call” sign in the front of the vehicle, was issued with a fine for non-payment by post several weeks later.

She said: “As a midwife I have had so many unfairly issued tickets over the years. Usually I challenge them and because of the nature of my work the appeal is usually granted. These are essential visits to women who are often at serious risk.

“I wanted to draw attention to this issue as it is something that causes immense stress to us as midwives, but this particular one was so unfair for so many reasons that I refused to back down and pay it.”

The £70 ticket was issued by private firm Parking Control Management in August last year.

The fine would have been reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days but Ms Fielder insisted she never saw the original ticket. The mother of one said the amount being demanded from her has now risen to £279 and she is due in court next month.

“There was no sign to say that I could not park there and when I came back to the car there was no ticket so I could not gather any evidence of my own to show there was no signage,” she said.

Ms Fielder, who lives in Staines, said the parking company took a photograph of the ticket which shows it under the windscreen wiper rather than attached to the windscreen.

The firm even took a photograph of the midwife on call sign but ignored her entreaties to waive the fine.

Ms Fielder said she has now moved to a job in a hospital, partly to escape the stress of trying to avoid parking tickets while on call.

She added: “Some of my colleagues have suggested creating a petition saying that we should be exempt from parking fines due to the nature of our jobs.

“We often have to park miles away from where we need to visit and end up soaking wet in rainy weather; walking down dark alleyways and steep steps in the winter.

It is really not an easy job to begin with, so the stress of worrying about having to pay £35 to £40 while doing our job just adds to the pressure.”

Parking Control Management, which has faced criticism for its car-clamping fees, refused to comment.

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