She says she planned to feed the meter, but wanted to feed her crying baby first.

After that, the St. Catharines mom says, she and her family planned to head into Victoria Park to see the Holly Roller Sherman tank and have a picnic.

Instead, they left London with a “horrible taste” in their mouths after a parking officer ticketed them as she breastfed her baby in her van outside the park.

“I was appalled,” said Maria Marques, who was in London for a specialist’s appointment at University Hospital Tuesday and planned the picnic with husband Jeff, their five-year-old son and 13-month-old girl.

“Of course, we were going to pay,” she said Thursday. “We had every intention of paying. But my daughter was hungry, I wanted to console her,” she said.

Snacks packed, the family pulled into a park-facing metered spot on Clarence Street at noon, Marques said.

It was scorching hot, already 29C.

When the baby began fussing, Marques opted to breastfeed her in the air-conditioned van before heading out.

“My car was still running because we still wanted the air conditioning while I fed her,” she said.

She’d been nursing the baby a few minutes when she and her husband saw enforcement officers issuing tickets. Thinking they were safe, with their vehicle running and planning to pay in a minute, they were unconcerned.

Then the officers motioned to the meter, asking if they’d paid. Jeff Marques jumped out of the van.

“I said, ‘My wife is breastfeeding right now and then we’re going to the park,’ ” he recalled. “He could’ve just waited to make sure we got out and paid.”

Instead, the officer said he was ticketing them and put his head down as he set about it, Jeff Marques said. “I’m going (to others walking by), ‘Can you believe this man? My wife’s breastfeeding and he won’t give us a chance to finish up.’ “

“I’m not paying that,” he said he told the officer who handed him the $25 ticket.

The family drove straight to the court and disputed the ticket. But they got a call Thursday saying the fine stands since the commissionaires reported the people said they weren’t going to pay the meter.

Jeff Marques said it was all “disappointing” to a family looking forward to a great day in what they thought was a great city.

“My wife had just said, ‘this seems like a great city to live in. Then we got to the park and there’s a tank in the park and I thought it would be cool to go see the tank with my son.”

Instead, they left the park and the city $25 in the hole. “It’s disgusting,” he said.

City hall doesn’t discuss tickets with the media, said Annette Drost of parking and licensing enforcement.

But Coun. Josh Morgan, who chairs city council’s protective services committee, said he encourages the family to file a complaint with the city.

His first reaction, he said, is that “it seems really odd for someone to be ticketed while they’re in their vehicle,” although it would be “highly inappropriate” for any councillor to comment on a specific case.

“If they had a bad experience, I encourage them to submit a complaint,” he said. “We do want to give the impression London is a nice place.”

— With files by Dan Brown, Free Press reporter

jennifer.obrien@sunmedia.ca

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