Pensioner 'stressed for weeks' after Swindon parking fine blunder

An elderly man given an incorrect parking ticket says he has been upset for weeks.

Swindon Borough Council says the fine was issued in error but Jim Gibson says he is yet to receive an apology.

The 86-year-old parked in Sanford Street in the town centre in a bay for disabled drivers, using his blue badge.

He was in town to get a card and gift for his wife Mary, who has significant health problems and had been taken to hospital.

But upon returning to his car, he discovered he had been fined for parking in a space reserved for a police vehicle - even though it was a clearly-marked disabled bay.

The letter from the council did not refer to the space being reserved for police – and pictures indicated Mr Gibson had not done that.

Instead, the letter warned him about displaying the clock on his badge because disabled parking is limited to four hours at a time in Sanford Street.

“They tried to charge me for something I hadn’t done, then drop it, but tell me off for something else, which was not on the original ticket," he said.

“I wrote to the council, about this telling them how I felt, but I didn’t get a reply.

“It has weighed on my mind for these last weeks – I had a heart operation last year and I’m looking after my wife who is ill.

"It’s been quite a stressful time with this on top of it all."

A spokesperson for Swindon Borough Council said the ticket had included the wrong code because of a genuine and easy-to-make error by the parking officer when issuing the ticket.

The code for parking in a police space is next to the code for not displaying a clock on the handheld device.

Credit: Aled Thomas