A woman was left shocked after being hit with a £160 parking fine while attending a clinic for a breast screening.
Lou Wilkinson was sent the penalty notice from company G24 Limited, who claimed they had been in contact with her to pay the fine she had "absolutely no idea" about.
After checking the date on the charge, she quickly realised the fine was from when she attended her appointment at a mobile mammogram unit in the car park of The Garth Surgery, Guisborough.
And after posting about the £160 charge on social media, she soon discovered she wasn't the only one who had been sent a letter from the company, Teesside Live reports.
Lou said: "I got a letter for a final payment request for £160 which was for a parking charge on January 10. I had absolutely no idea when this was from or what it was for. I phoned the company and she told me it was from parking in Guisborough Medical Centre. I was told I had previous reminders and I said I'd had nothing at all.
"I'd gone for a mammogram in the car park with the mobile wagon and there must be some camera catching you as you go in and out. I've sent in an 'appeal your charge' - she came back and she said this has been deleted. She said there had been an error on G24's part."
On Facebook, one post regarding the parking fines received over 200 comments. Lou said she didn't even know if it was a real fine at first: "I first of all thought it was a scam. Then I realised and I was reading all these things on Facebook. I think the surgery has been inundated with people ringing, which is what they don't need at the moment. It's not the health centre's fault.
"It looks like there are hundreds and hundreds of people in Stokesley and Great Ayton that have been for mammograms that have got these £160 fines with no prior warning."
Lou said how the fines are adding unneeded pressure to those who go to the mobile unit for screenings. She said: "A lot of people will run on the fear factor. Thinking, 'oh my god I've got a debt recovery agency asking me, I'm going to pay this.' I don't know how many have done that.
"Even if it's routine, you always think I hope everything is ok. Ladies who are going because they have got ongoing screenings for a diagnosis of breast cancer, they really don't need this."
When approached by Teesside Live, G24 Limited declined to comment.
In a post on Facebook, The Garth Surgery confirmed that the parking company had been made aware of the issue and advised people to appeal at https://www.appealyourcharge.co.uk/.
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