Driver fined after parking in 'non-space' in Malvern car park

Nigel Inman was given a fixed penalty notice after parking in Newtown Road car park last Friday (July 14).

But he has appealed the fine, saying there’s nothing to tell drivers they shouldn’t park where he did.

Are these parking bays or not? (Image: Nigel Inman)

“There appears to be a number of parking spaces in front of various recycling bins to the lefthand side as you enter the car park,” said Mr Inman.

“Motorists need to be aware that according to Malvern Hills’ Civil Enforcement Officers, all of these are not in fact parking spaces and that if you park there, as I recently did, you will receive a fixed penalty ticket.”

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Mr Inman came back to find the ticket on his windscreen after a trip to Cox’s of Malvern in Newtown Road - and that another car had also been ticketed.

“My wife and I spoke to the two parking wardens who had issued the ticket,” he said. “They both said the ‘parking bays’ where I had parked were not parking bays because ‘the paint on the white lines was not as recently painted as the paint on the white lines of the designated parking bays’.”

Mr Inman's car parked in front of recycling bins on the car park (Image: Nigel Inman)

“I honestly have to say that I’ve visited many car parks over the years where the lines defining a parking bay were considerably less clear than the bay I parked in.

“But the freshness of the paint is irrelevant. Malvern Hills council has a duty to clearly mark out where someone can or cannot park in one of their car parks.

“If something is no longer a designated parking bay, the white lines should have been removed completely. Alternatively, they could have marked out a ‘no parking area’ with solid yellow lines and written ‘no parking’, as they have done elsewhere in that car park, otherwise how is anyone supposed to know?”

A spokesperson for Malvern Hills District Council said: “We have received the appeal and are currently investigating.

“We have some scheduled remarking for a number of our car parking sites to ensure the spaces are clearly marked and to avoid confusion.”