Gas workers get parking ticket while on emergency job
9:23am Tuesday 2nd September 2008
Three men working on an emergency gas leak on Beulah Hill were astonished when they were issued with a £100 parking fine.
The workmen from Southern Gas Network started working on the urgent gas leak at the junction of Beulah Hill and Biggin Hill at 9.30am. Their prominently marked van was parked just behind them on Biggin Hill on double yellow lines.
A parking warden walking up Biggin Hill issued them with a fine at 12.00pm.
Gavin Anderson, 27, from SGN, said: “We saw the warden just as he was putting the ticket on the windscreen. I told him we were working an emergency. He said he understood but that he had already issued the ticket.
“He should have come to find us, it was pretty obvious we were working just behind the van and we are working on an emergency here.
“I parked the van in this spot to make sure I was well out of the way of any traffic, this is a really busy road.”
He said that he was not too sure whether or not he would have to pay the fine but that appealing it was going to create a lot of extra unnecessary work for them.
A council spokesman said: “Without the relevant details – the penalty charge notice number or the registration number of the vehicle, we’re unable to comment on this specific case.
“As a general rule, however, the council’s civil enforcement officers are instructed to exercise discretion, particularly in instances where utility companies are carrying out emergency repair works.”
A spokeswoman from SGN said: "As an organisation we would expect everyone to park safely and legally. In some emergency jobs people may need to park illegally. In this circumstance we will be writing to Croydon Council to explain the nature of the work."
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