A single mum was fined £260 over this parking rule that you may not have heard about

7 January 2019, 16:56 | Updated: 8 January 2019, 12:37

By Alice Westoby

@alicemayw_

Rachel Bailey-Everest fell victim to a parking fine when she parked in a parent and child space because of this technicality.

Single mum of three Rachel Bailey-Everest, 45, has been fined £260 because of a parking technicality that many aren't aware of.

While parking her car in the parent and child spaces at a Co-Op in Norwich, Norfolk in August last year she fell victim to fines issued after she improperly used the parking bays by leaving her kids in the car.

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Over the course of four days Rachel used the space twice including one occasion to buy her three-year-old son medicine as he was unwell.

But because she left her children in the car instead of taking them into the shop with her she became eligible for a fine.

An understandably upset Rachel has accused the private parking firm who issued the fines of having 'no humanity' after she appealed the charges with no success.

She told SWNS: "I feel so annoyed. It's just an easy way of making money out of people."I just saw a parents' space and parked there.

"I thought that will do, my boy's not well and I need to get in and get home."

"There's no leeway and no humanity."With three children, that's a lot of money for 20 minutes' parking."

Explaining her reasons for not bringing her children into the store she said: "My little boy was not very well at the time and he had fallen asleep in the car."

Instead of waking him she left him in the car with his older sisters Sofia, 10 and Amalia, 7.

The small print that caught Rachel out for her misuse of the space read that drivers must "Be accompanied out of the vehicle by a child 12-years-old or less" meaning had she taking one of her children to the shop with her she wouldn't have been fined.

A spokesman for the parking firm National Parking Enforcement told the Mirror: "As the charge remained unpaid for a month after the letter of rejection was issued, the charge passed to our debt recovery agents."

"No children exited the vehicle and therefore the driver did not require the extra space provided and should have parked in a regular parking bay."