Taxi driver gets airport fine after wind blew parking receipt out of her hand

A former taxi driver was issued a £100 fine at an airport after her parking receipt was blown out of her hand by the wind.

Kim Blagden, who worked for a local carrier service, was dropping off customers at East Midlands Airport in July 12, 2020, when the incident took place.

She drove through the barrier to drop off her customers and paid a £4 charge for ‘rapid drop off’.

Ms Blagden said she then proceeded to the payment machine while in the vehicle to collect the receipt, Nottinghamshire Live reports.

She said she needed the receipt in order to claim her expenses from the company.

When she was about to collect it, however, the wind blew the receipt to the ground.

“I could not open the door to pick up the receipt because there was not enough space, so I drove through the barrier”, she added.

“And then I literally stopped the other side of the barrier that went down and I went to pick up my receipt off the floor.”

The airport estate roads, however, are red-routed and “no stopping” signage is in place to discourage drivers from waiting in undesignated parking areas when dropping off and collecting passengers.

Ms Blagden added: “It is not like I stopped to let passengers out so I was avoiding paying the drop off charge that has already been paid.

“I had stopped to get my receipt to claim the parking charge back from the company.

“They say I stopped where I should not have done, but I stopped because I needed to go and pick something up that I dropped.

“It fell on the floor outside the vehicle.”

She said she was issued a £60 fine following the incident, and then it was increased to £100 because it has not been paid within 14 days.

Ms Blagden, who no longer works for the taxi company, said DG cars was dealing with the problem on her behalf.

A spokesperson for DG cars said: “We can confirm that we re-appealed a number of times and it has been rejected every single time.

“We think it is unfair and we have been dealing with this for over a year now.”

Ms Blagden has claimed that she received yet another negative response on Thursday (November 4).

However, following the interview, a spokesperson for the East Midlands Airport confirmed her parking fine has been cancelled and apologised “for any inconvenience and worry this has caused”.

An East Midlands Airport spokesperson says: “We understand that, after further review, Kim Blagden’s parking fine has been cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience and worry this has caused.

“The safety of people visiting East Midlands Airport (EMA) is of paramount importance and controlling the traffic flow across the airport site is key to this. For this reason, airport estate roads are red-routed and “no stopping” signage is clearly visible to discourage drivers from waiting in undesignated parking areas when dropping off and collecting passengers.

“All drivers have a choice of drop-off and pick-up parking at the airport. A fifteen minute stay in rapid drop off costs £5, while 30 minutes in short stay 1 car park is £6. One hour’s free parking can also be had in Long Stay 2.”

A representative for Vehicle Control Services Ltd, which operates the enforcement at the airport, added: “The management of the roadways at East Midlands Airport is to ensure the safe passage of vehicles around the site and deter vehicles from stopping or parking in areas that would lead to a potential safety hazard to pedestrians and other road users.

“On the 15th July 2020 our mobile CCTV Enforcement vehicle observed Ms Blagden’s vehicle parked in the exit lane to one of the airport parking areas, causing a potential obstruction to other vehicles.

“The captured footage clearly showed the vehicle parked and was in no obvious signs of distress or emergency as its hazard lights were not active, as a result, it was considered the vehicle was stopped in an unsafe manner and was issued a Parking Charge Notice for stopping a vehicle where Stopping is Prohibited.

“Ms Blagden appealed the notice and this was initially declined by ourselves as the footage did not sufficiently support Ms Blagden’s mitigation to the event.

“However, following a further review of additional evidence provided by her to the Independent Appeals Service, we decided to cancel the charge and allow the appeal on the grounds that Ms Blagden did pay for her parking and had a reasonable cause to stop, although we would have advised that in such circumstances it would have been appropriate to have hazard lights on to alert other vehicles of the situation.”