Halt for dropped card lands driver with airport fine
APPEAL WAS REFUSED... UNTIL DERBY TELEGRAPH STEPPED IN
A DRIVER was left frustrated and confused after receiving a fine for stopping to pick up a debit card he had dropped while paying to leave a car park at East Midlands Airport.
John Wood was collecting his wife from the airport and when he went to leave he accidentally dropped his debit card after paying at the barrier.
The barrier swung open so John, 72, drove through, worried that it would close, then he and his wife, Susie, got out to retrieve the card.
At this point a Vehicle Control Services van stopped on the roundabout in front of him and filmed while the car was stationary. John thought nothing of it but then received a £100 charge a week later.
He said: “I dropped the card on the ground, which wasn’t the cleverest thing to do, but pretty easy to do.
“The barrier had gone up so I pulled out and stopped with the barrier just behind the car, just before the rounda- bout as you come out.
“I got out and looked for the card and found it at the side of the road. By the time I got back into the car, the van had stopped on the roundabout – which it shouldn’t have done anyway – and was busily photographing me. Next thing I knew I got a £100 fine in the post.”
After the incident on November 4, John appealed against this fine, but was told that as it was on private land and as there were signs stating no parking there was nothing legally he could do about it.
He said: “I paid the fine, ‘put up and shut up,’ but it’s a ludicrous situation.
“I wouldn’t say I was stopped for more than 30 seconds and nobody has managed to suggest to me what I was supposed to do. Should I just leave the debit card lying in the road and drive off?”
He added: “It’s a pity really. Those guys that stopped, if they’d put their lights on the ground I could’ve found my card a bit quicker, but no one got out at all to help. It’s a great shame.”
John, who is retired but used to own his own aerospace company, said the experience had put him off using the airport. “I won’t be using East Midlands again unless I have to.”
He is not the first motorist to express frustration with the fines handed out by VCS and EMA.
Gordon Jackson, a community centre worker, received a £100 fine for stopping at the petrol station to pick up a newspaper. And Terri Akers successfully appealed against a fine received in 2019 after being charged for dropping off a friend while she filled up with petrol. After being contacted by the Derby Telegraph, East Midlands Airport looked at the footage of the incident involving John’s fine and said it had been revoked.
A spokesperson for the airport said: “Having further reviewed the circumstances in which Mr Wood received a parking notice, Vehicle Control Services (VCS), which enforces parking on red-routed airport estate roads, has agreed to cancel the parking charge and reimburse him. We apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused him. “The safety of people visiting East Midlands Airport is of paramount importance and controlling the traffic flow across the airport site is key to this. For this reason, airport estate roads are red-routed and ‘no stopping’ signage is clearly visible to discourage drivers from waiting in undesignated parking areas when dropping off and collecting passengers.
“All drivers have a choice of drop-off and pick-up parking at the airport.
“Fifteen minutes’ parking in rapid drop off costs £4, while 30 minutes in short stay 1 car park is £5. One-hour free parking is also available in Long Stay 2 car park.”
VCS has been liaising with EMA over the fine and as a result has said it does not “consider it necessary to comment further”.
John was overjoyed after hearing the news. He said: “I am quite surprised really, I never really anticipated that they would be looking at the fine because I paid it last week. But that’s very cheering and very good to hear.”
Nobody managed to suggest to me what I was supposed to do. Should I just leave the debit card lying in the road? John Wood