A mum who breastfed her "very distressed" baby in a car park has been given a £170 fine.
Amanda Ruggeri parked up outside Newquay Golf Club for around 20 minutes late in the evening on Sunday, May 2, with her three-month-old daughter having a "total meltdown".
The mother and child, as well as Amanda's partner, were on their way back home to north Cornwall.
Ironically, the fine cost more than their one night stay in the seaside resort of Mousehole, reports CornwallLive.
Amanda explained her daughter is generally not a fan of travelling in the car anyway and when she became upset they pulled into the first place they found.
Have you suffered a similar incident to Amanda? Let us know at webnews@mirror.co.uk
"Our baby suddenly became very distressed in the car," she said.
"She's never a fan of the car, but this was a total meltdown - absolutely screaming and purple in the face.
"We had no idea if she was having some kind of health incident or what was going on."
Amanda's husband pulled into the car park at the golf club around 7.50pm as they didn't know the area and didn't want to drive around "aimlessly".
With no-one else around the couple assumed it would be fine.
It turned out the tot was just "very, very hungry" and so Amanda breastfed her and then they left.
Weeks later a ticket came through from Smart Parking Ltd, which manages the car park, stating they had been "parked illegally for 21 minutes".
Amanda believes, due to the circumstances, they are actually protected by the 2010 Equality Act.
Her appeal, however, was rejected despite the mum arguing babies at this age feed "on demand" and don't have a schedule yet.
She added: "We also mentioned that in our distress we hadn't even seen the signs that we weren't allowed to park there after hours."
After contacting the golf club directly, Amanda was told appeals must "only be dealt with" through the parking operators and it is "unable to assist".
The Mirror has contacted the golf club and Smart Parking for comment.
