Disabled pensioner from Leyland hit with £100 parking charge after failing to buy 50p ticket because the car park's pay machine was blocked by debris

Bernard Armer had planned to stay at the Euro Car Park in Spring Gardens, Leyland, for less than an hour – but now faced a hefty £100 parking charge from the private company.

His stay should have cost just 50p but because the car park’s pay machine was blocked by machinery and pallets, Mr Armer, who uses a walking stick and has diabetes, was unable to get close enough to pay. An alternative payment method of phoning an automated payment line or downloading an app also proved fruitless as Mr Armer’s phone can’t access web services.

Lorraine Smythies, 43, a family friend of Bernard’s helped him appeal what was the original £60 charge, citing problems accessing payment methods. However, Euro Car Parks who run the Spring Gardens car park in Leyland, denied the appeal. Because the charge was not paid by the company’s deadline it has increased to £100.

Bernard said: “My phone is just an old Nokia, it’s for calls and texts, I don’t know how to use any of these fancy buttons. I feel very anxious, I don’t need it at the moment. I wouldn’t have had all this trouble if the ticket machine was working. I just want people that are older than me, if they’ve got tickets, to take them to court. Old-age pensioners shouldn’t have to pay all this money, they haven’t got it! What are they supposed to do? It’s just hard work.”

Bernard was visiting the dentists behind the car park to make an appointment, says he was parked up for less than 15 minutes on September 30, and the fine was received at the start of October. Since then Bernard says Euro Car Parks have put up new, clearer signage but have not moved the obstacles blocking the pay machine.

Family friend, Lorraine said: “Bernard suffers from alopecia and is riddled with arthritis and diabetes, and when he gets stressed his fingernails start falling off. So because of the stress of it all and the worry, his alopecia is getting worse.

"Because Bernard doesn’t know how to use the technology he passed over the fine for me to have a look at, I went on to the website and looking through I pointed out that the sign they have in the car park is really small, high up and very tricky to read. I also said that the sign showed the Equality Act 2011 for disabled people because Bernard is disabled as well, I sent them a picture of the machine that was all blocked up and I sent them pictures of his disability badge, just to let them know that he is actually disabled.

“I made the point there was only one small sign in the car park then about three weeks later all new signage went up. I asked the dentist at the back of the car park, when did the new signs go up and they said they went up at the end of October.

“Euro parking services are discriminating against the elderly and non-technical people, there won't re-look at the decision or deal with each case on an individual basis.

“This is so wrong. Bernard is extremely upset and is very distressed over the whole situation.”

The Post approached Euro Car Parks for a response but had no reply.