Carer launches petition calling for exemptions from parking restrictions

Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter

A carer has launched a petition calling for exemptions from parking restrictions after being fined multiple times while visiting clients.

Megan Copley has been hit with three fines, adding up to £210, in as many months while attending to elderly and vulnerable clients.

Other domiciliary care colleagues, who go from house to house to carry out essential tasks from preparing meals to showering clients, have also been fined when parked in residents’ parking bays in Monmouth.

The petition was launched after a member of staff in the council’s civil parking enforcement team wrongly told her builders can be granted exemptions but the concession wouldn’t extend to carers.

Ms Copley said: “I’m at my whit’s end and running out of options and don’t find it fair how builders can be granted a permit and carers can’t.”

Her petition calls for Monmouthshire County Council to “implement accessible parking permits or exemptions for community carers”.

The county council has said it recognises carers provide a “vital service” and is “happy to work with them and with the residents who rely on their support” and “identify ways to resolve the problem in a way that is safe and sustainable”.

It also said it doesn’t issue permits for builders to park in locations where parking is otherwise restricted or prohibited but will accommodate requests to park for short periods such as for site access or due to heavy equipment or materials “where it is feasible and safe to do so”.

A spokesman said: “The officer’s response implying that such requests will only be considered from builders was in error.”

Ms Copley, who is employed by a care firm, said between February and launching her petition in April she had received three £70 fines while working. Fine are reduced to £35 for those able to pay within a fortnight.

She said: “I’m getting ticketed more than I’m getting paid and while I have been able to afford to pay within two weeks it’s another outgoing I could do without.

“It is not as if we’re there for leisure we’re there trying to do our jobs.”

Sympathy

The carer said some calls can last up to 90 minutes, meaning carers are parked for longer than the one hour permitted, and they can also struggle to find an unrestricted parking space which results in their calls running behind schedule.

“I’ve contacted the council and they said to find an alternatives parking space. I’ve told them there are no alternatives, they are not listening and there is no sort of sympathy shown towards us.”

Her colleague Jeremy Hopkins said he had had even told a parking enforcement officer he was a carer when he was recently issued a ticket in Monmouth.

Mr Hopkins said: “I explained I was a carer and he said ‘well, I’ve got to give you a ticket anyway’.”

The petition, which has attracted 150 signatures, can be found here