A MUM has been slapped with a huge £140 fine after pulling into an empty car park to save her choking newborn baby.
Amber-Mae Fairclough, 28, was making a two-hour trip to visit her parents when her three-month-old began screaming in January.
The new mum, a TV production planner, was left with no choice but to pull over into the nearest safe spot after the infant began choking.
She calmed and fed her baby boy, before leaving the quiet pub car park in Stoford, Wiltshire, just 21 minutes later.
But she was horrified after being hit with a £60 fine just days later.
After her appeal was rejected by parking firm Civil Enforcement Ltd, the fine rose to £140 – and will continue to rise until she is taken to court.
Amber-Mae’s multiple attempts to appeal the fine have been rejected, too.
The ordeal has left the mum furious as she blasted: “I’ve been penalised for keeping my baby safe.”
Amber-Mae told The Sun: “My partner had to go away for work, abroad, and I didn’t want to stay in the house by myself so I decided to travel to see family.
“It was just me in the car with my dog and newborn baby. It was only a two-hour trip so I wasn’t supposed to stop.
“But he started crying, which is obviously very distracting when driving. He was crying so much that he started choking, so I had to pull over wherever was nearest.
“Unfortunately for me that was this pub car park. I didn’t see the signs that said ‘permit holder only’, but I pulled in, fed the baby and settled him down so he was calm.
“I put him back and got in the car. I did look for a pay meter but couldn’t find one, so assumed it was fine as this place is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.”
Amber was sent a physical letter informing her of the fine days later.
She immediately appealed the fine, but received a rejection via email that landed in her junk folder.
As a result, Amber did not see the rejection for weeks and the fine rose to £140.
Civil Enforcement Ltd had stated that she needed to provide ambulance report or evidence a GP had attended the incident in order for the fine to be overturned.
Requests for all correspondence to come via hard documentation, thus avoiding emails being missed, fell on deaf ears.
Amber added: “We were there for 21 minutes, but I was whacked with a massive fine of £60.
DRIVERS are often no strangers to particularly harsh fines dished out int he most innocuous of circumstances across the UK.
Earlier this year, a mum lashed out at an unfair £100 parking fine after claiming she was trapped in a car park by “obscene” traffic.
Natalie Minker, was slapped with a penalty charge after allegedly getting stuck in “gridlocked” jams when trying to leave a shopping centre car park.
Last year, a blue badge holder was left furious after receiving a fine for parking in a disabled bay.
Louise Reilly, from Glasgow, was slapped with a penalty after she stopped at Marks and Spencer at Braehead Shopping Centre.
She was baffled to receive a parking charge notice from Premier Park through her door following her visit, despite her blue badge sitting on her dashboard.
And in Newcastle last month, a mum who abandoned her car to feed her baby shared her fury over being slapped with a £100 fine.
She says she was stuck in a massive queue as she tried to exit a Newcastle retail park, before giving up on waiting after 45 minutes as her tot was getting hungry.
“I have now been sent a £140 fine which goes up to £170 in 14 days, with every email going into my junk folder. I can’t progress it to the next stage as too much time has now run out. It will now keep going up until they take me to court.
“Choking is an emergency as far as I am concerned and that is the reason I gave them.
“There’s just a complete lack of understanding for the situation.”
Amber has now been left facing the dread of potentially being taken to court.
She continued: “It’s just disgusting, really. It is a massive fine for something that hasn’t harmed anyone.
“I don’t feel like I’ve done anything wrong. I feel like I’ve been penalised for doing my due diligence and keeping me and my baby safe when it wasn’t fit to drive.
“I don’t understand how feeding a baby can constitute getting a £60 parking fine.”
Civil Enforcement Ltd has been approached for comment.
AN estimated 22,000 parking fines are issued daily by private firms in the UK to often unsuspecting motorists.
Private parking charges aren’t the same as those charged by your local council or the police – these are known as fixed penalty notices or charges.
Any private land offering space to park can issue a PCN.
This includes supermarkets, who will usually give shoppers a 2 to 3 hour slot to park.
Strictly speaking, private parking fines aren’t even fines, they’re invoices for parking from the owner of the land.
But ignoring the charge can result in the fees dramatically increasing and threats of debt collectors, court action and damage to your credit rating.
If you get a ticket, speak to the parking company straight away and ask them to hold fire on charges while you gather some evidence.
Explain the circumstances that lead to the charge, keep a record of all your comments and ask them to respond in writing.
If the complaint is rejected, your next step is to appeal.
Appeals should be made to Parking On Private Land Appeals if the operator is a BPA member.
You have 28 days after the rejection of the initial complaint to appeal to Popla.
If they are an IPC member, appeal to the Independent Appeals Service — you have 21 days to do so.
And if your appeal is rejected, Consumer rights campaigner Scott Dixon suggests appealing again.
“You’re virtually always rejected at the first stage on private parking tickets. But on the second stage, Popla finds two in five tickets unfair and cancels them.”
