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A man has slammed the council’s ‘lack of compassion’ after they handed him a parking fine while he was displaying his 95-year-old mother's blue badge.



On November 8, Gareth Pountain, 64, was taking his elderly mother for a day trip to the Fitzwilliam Museum.



Mr Pountain lives in St Albans, but had made his way to Cambridge to visit 95-year-old Joyce Pountain, who lives in a care home just outside the city.



When he pulled up outside of the museum, Mr Pountain was struck by the lack of room for parking.



“I couldn’t see anything within 100 yards,” he said. “It’s not obvious where I could’ve parked that was actually free.”









“All I did was I parked in a motorcycle bay. I parked there assuming that would be okay, which clearly it wasn’t.”



After pulling up into the motorcycle bay and displaying his mother’s blue disabled badge in the windscreen, Mr Pountain paid a visit to the museum with his wheelchair-bound mother, not giving a second thought to the parked car he had left behind.



But when they returned to the parked car an hour and a half later, Mr Pountain was shocked to discover that he had been slapped with a parking ticket and a fine.



He said: “My gast was flabbered when I came back and there was a ticket. I thought, 'you must be joking'.



“Even though I’m a disabled user, I can’t park there, and apparently I deserve a ticket.”



“I don’t think it’s reasonable for them to assume that I know that I couldn’t park there.”

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A fuming Mr Pountain said he tried seven times to contact Cambridgeshire County Council to appeal the fine on the same day, but was unable to get through to them until the following Monday.But following his call to the council, a letter, dated November 23, was later sent to Mr Pountain to inform him that he had to pay the £35 fine within 14 days.“The Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) was served as the vehicle was observed parked in an area designated for Motorcycles parking.“I appreciate you displayed a blue badge when parking at this location, however this does not entitle the vehicle to park in this bay.”The letter advised Mr Pountain to look at a booklet which sets out the terms of using the disabled badge, which the council claims he should have received alongside the badge.





He said: “They should take the road signs down. It doesn’t say it excludes disabled users. They are basically reliant upon some booklet.



“There’s a lack of common sense and a lack of compassion. They need to be pulled up for their crass attitude.



“When it extends to disabled users in wheelchairs, how much further are you going to go?”



Mr Pountain has since reluctantly paid the fine, having decided not to pursue the matter any further.



