‘TRAFFIC WARDEN BOOKED ME – UNLOADING PPE’

A KEY worker has criticised Torbay Council after being handed a fixed penalty notice whilst unloading vital PPE outside her workplace.

The dentist employee - who wishes to remain anonymous - says that she was issued the ticket in September whilst covering shifts at a dental practice for fellow colleagues who had been instructed to self-isolate.

The key worker had stopped in a loading bay outside the practice to unload boxes of PPE ready for the following day, before a traffic warden issued the ticket.

She said: ‘’I was only going to be three minutes.

“I ran into the surgery to ask for a hand, but the traffic warden was already smirking and rubbing his hands together writing a ticket by the time I ran back outside.’’

The key worker says she has tried to appeal the £110 fine which she argued showed ‘’no consideration of the situation or circumstances’’.

She said: ‘’ I tried to explain to him that I was an essential worker providing emergency treatments for NHS clients and that I was literally going to be two minutes but he showed no respect for this nor any understanding of the situation and carried on writing the ticket.

‘’Under normal circumstances I would never park in a loading bay but this was a one off delivery under a pandemic situation.

‘’I am just very shocked at the lack of respect that I received from Torbay Council for the risk we take every single day to provide emergency treatment for our lovely patients.”

A spokesperson for Torbay Council said: “Parking enforcement is continuing as normal through the current national lockdown.

“Whilst a more restrictive lockdown has been introduced nationally across England, a significant amount of activity is continuing, and traffic management needs to reflect this.” They said a full appeals process was in place.