Kelly Kitchen said there were no parent and child parking bays available and she has to open both rear car doors fully in order to get her boys out of the car in their car seats
A new mum was left picking up a £100 fine after struggling to park her car in order to safely remove her newborn twins at a shopping park. Kelly Kitchen, 36, returned to her vehicle after an hour of shopping to find she had been fined for slightly crossing into the next bay.
The mum-of-two explained that there were no parent and child parking bays available and she needed to fully open both rear car doors to get her boys out of their car seats, which then fit onto the buggy frame. Despite appealing the decision and explaining her situation, Kelly’s plea was rejected.
She said there had been a similar incident in a Durham car park where the fine was waived after she explained her predicament – but Teesside Park, where the fine was issued, refused. The personal assistant, currently on maternity leave, was visiting the retail outlet on December 5 with her now 12-week-old sons, Jesse and Joey, when she was hit with the fine.
“It was absolutely packed and there were no parent and child spaces available,” she said, adding that she had to park slightly over the line into an empty space next to her to get the car seats out of both sides of her Toyota RAV4. The single mum, from Stainton, has contacted both Teesside Park management and enforcement company Minster Baywatch, but to no avail, reports Teesside Live.
“No-one seems to be interested. No-one wants to help me, I feel like I am just going round in circles,” she said.
Kelly is now wanting to raise the issue of the parking struggles faced by parents. She says at Teesside Park there too few parent and child spaces, but they’re also too narrow for practical use.
She explains: “I can’t possibly be the only person who has this problem. It is not just Teesside Park, its the same everywhere. The car seats are really bulky so I need to open the doors fully wide to get them out. I never gave it a thought before I had children, but now I just don’t know how other people do it.”
A spokesperson from Teesside Park assured patrons: “Our car park is managed by Minster Baywatch, the policies and systems in place are designed to ensure that there are always spaces available for those who need them. For those visiting with small children, we have dedicated parent and child spaces across the car park, and also time restrictions in place in the Retail South car park to ensure as many spaces are available as possible.”
