Woman trapped in traffic for three hours leaving Central Six

[dutchman]

An unlucky driver who got stuck in a THREE hour queue to get out of a car park was left stunned when she got a £70 parking ticket through the post.



Dionne Russell, 46, says she was trapped in Coventry’s Central Six retail park because the traffic was gridlocked.

She spent 40 minutes shopping and then says it took her three hours to get out of the car park.

That tipped her over the three hour limit for parking and meant she got an automatic fine through the post,

Ms Russell, who lives in Radford, Coventry had gone to Central Six on her day off work on May 14 to get some last minute items before she went to visit her fiancé in Germany.

She said: “I had only gone to get some yarn for my crochet. I was going to be visiting my fiancé in Germany and wanted something to do for when he was working.”

The finance manager, who works in Nottingham, said: “It took me longer to get home from there than from Nottingham.”

Ms Russell was hit with the notice after licence plate recognition cameras used to police how long visitors to the retail park stay clocked her car stuck in traffic as she was leaving the site.

She said: “I actually spent around 40 minutes shopping. We were clearly queuing.”

The traffic was so bad because of a combination of nearby roadworks and a broken down vehicle on the ring raod.

Dionne, who is in recovery from cancer, said she had been left stressed by her whole ordeal.

She said: “It was so stressful I’m in recovery from cancer and try to avoid stressful situations.

“People were really irate and shouting and it was unpleasant.

“In the queue people were trying to force themselves in front of me.

“In the end I let one in as it was really stressing me out.

“A lady was banging on people’s windows and complaining to anyone letting anyone out and asking those pushing in to join the back of the queue.

“As I was feeling stressed I told her I didn’t deliberately let anyone in just didn’t want to become aggressive as it wouldn’t help the situation.”

She described how it took police intervention to get the traffic moving again.

She said: “I would have been stuck for much longer had the police not took control of the traffic on the main road to let people out.”

“I will be contesting the fine and definitely will not be paying it.

“I will never go back to that retail park again.

“There must be so many people in the same boat.”

The Telegraph contacted G24, the company which issued Ms Russell with her parking fine,

A spokesman for firm said: “We have no comment.We will have to wait for the appeal to come through so I couldn’t pass comment yet.”

[rebbonk]

If I were her, I'd let them take me to court as I don't believe these charges are actually enforceable.

But fair do's to her, she's named and shamed and even if she does pay the publicity will have cost Central Six a lot more.

[dutchman]

Driver struck in three-hour wait to get out of Central Six car park will NOT have to pay £70 ticket

A woman who was issued with a £70 ticket after being stuck in a three hour car park queue has now been told she wont have to pay.

Dionne Russell, 46, was trapped in Coventry’s Central Six retail park on May 14 because the traffic around the Friargate development was gridlocked.

As the Telegraph reported on Monday she had only been shopping at the retail park for 40 minutes to buy some yarn from Hobbycraft before being stuck in a queue.

Since we ran the story, the financial manager from Radford in Coventry has received a letter from the parking enforcement company G42 revoking the fine.

The cancer survivor spoke to the Telegraph about the relief of having resolved the issue.

She said: “I sent my appeal to them yesterday.

“On the same day I was sent a letter cancelling the ticket.”

She added: “I just can’t believe it. I feel so emotional.

“I thought it was going to be going on after I moved to Germany.”

Dionne told the Telegraph that she contacted the paper to raise awareness about the issue of private parking fines. She said: “Hopefully this will draw awareness to the issue.

“People have probably paid the fine when they shouldn’t have.”

The 46-year-old who will soon be leaving the UK to live in Germany with her fiancé received an outpouring of support on social media.

The company said today: “We have no comment on the situation.”

[rebbonk]

They wouldn't have cancelled it had it not been for the publicity.