A new Teesside mum was hit with a fine after struggling to park so she could get her newborn twins out of the car at Teesside Park.
Kelly Kitchen returned to her vehicle after an hour’s shopping to find she had a £100 fine for going over the line slightly into the next bay. However, the mum-of-two, said there were no parent and child parking bays available and she has to open both rear car doors fully in order to get her boys out of the car in their car seats, which then fit onto the buggy frame.
Kelly, 36, appealed the decision explaining the situation, but was turned down. She said the same thing happened in a car park in Durham and when she explained the situation they quashed the fine – but Teesside Park has refused.
The personal assistant, currently on maternity leave, was visiting the retail outlet on December 5 with her now 12-week-old sons, Jesse and Joey, when she was issued with the fine.
Jesse and Joey Kitchen cause their mum double trouble when it comes to parking at Teesside Park
(Image: UGC)
She said: “It was absolutely packed and there were no parent and child spaces available.” She said she needed to park a little bit over the line into an empty space next to her in order to get the car seats out of both sides of her Toyota RAV4.
Single mum Kelly, who lives in Stainton, said she has been in contact several times with both Teesside Park management and enforcement company Minster Baywatch, but is not getting anywhere. She said: “No-one seems to be interested. No-one wants to help me, I feel like I am just going round in circles.”
Kelly said she wants to highlight the issue, saying there are not enough parent and child parking spaces at Teesside Park and that the ones that are there are not wide enough to be able to get children out of both sides.
She said: “I can’t possibly be the only person who has this problem. It is not just Teesside Park, its the same everywhere. The car seats are really bulky so I need to open the doors fully wide to get them out. I never gave it a thought before I had children, but now I just don’t know how other people do it.”
A spokesperson for Teesside Park said: “Our car park is managed by Minster Baywatch, the policies and systems in place are designed to ensure that there are always spaces available for those who need them. For those visiting with small children, we have dedicated parent and child spaces across the car park, and also time restrictions in place in the Retail South car park to ensure as many spaces are available as possible.”
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