An 80-year-old disabled woman from Swansea has been fined £100, because she took too long to do her food shop. Ann Tawe-Jones from Birchgrove, who uses a walking stick, was parked in Morrisons car park at Morfa Shopping Park for two hours and six minutes on Thursday, January 19, and received a whopping parking fine for overstaying.
Mrs Jones, who lives alone, said she went to the supermarket to enjoy the warmth of the company, but that she took longer to shop than most people due to her mobility issues and was upset to receive the parking fine. In the past two years, she said she'd received two parking fines from Euro Car Parks, which manages the Morfa and Neath Morrisons car parks.
Unaware the maximum parking time at the Morfa Morrisons car park was 90 minutes, Mrs Jones said it was not until she complained to the supermarket's customer service desk about her parking ticket that she was informed of the rules.
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"Imagine, I'm disabled, 80 years of age. I get my food and things like milk might have run out and I'll have to get somebody to go outside and get more. When I'm in the shop, I have to lean on the trolley, because I'm in so much pain," explained Mrs Jones. She added that she was planning on finding an alternative solution to help her move around the supermarket faster, but said she found the mobility scooters provided hard to manoeuvre and get in and out of to reach for the items she needed. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Mrs Jones said her family were supportive but her son lived in England and she could be quite lonely living by herself. The warmth of speaking to others at the supermarket and being around people was important, Mrs Jones said. On how she felt after receiving the parking fine, she said: "I'm very upset because I live on my own and I'm 80 years. It's a lonely life and I need the politeness and respect of people without them being rude to me. When you're shopping and spending a lot of money in the shop you want some courtesy."
A spokesperson for Morrisons said: "All of our car parks have signage that clearly highlight the allotted time allowed for customers to park. We appreciate Mrs Jones's situation and we have been in touch with her directly to resolve the situation."
Euro Car Parks has not yet responded to our request for comment.
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