A furious dad-of-four has blamed football fans after getting an £85 parking fine.
Traffic wardens slapped Danny Wilson's BMW with the ticket after he had to park four doors away from his home close to Stoke City's ground earlier this month.
After circling the area four times the 46-year-old says his only option was to park on a corner - and incur the wrath of the traffic wardens.
Now Danny is calling on Stoke-on-Trent City Council to make his road, Glebedale Road, permit-parking only on Stoke City matchdays. He has lived in the street for eight years.
Danny told Stoke-on-Trent Live : “I was furious. Normally it’s a nice and quiet road. Whenever Stoke are playing at home it’s a nightmare and dangerous. They are parking everywhere. They have got no respect and are parked on the corners everywhere and I’ve never seen a ticket on their cars.
“I went around the block four times and there was nowhere close where I could park. I’ve got a nice BMW and I’m not going to have it damaged because Stoke are playing. I suffer from severe arthritis in my hip and I can’t walk great distances because it does cause a lot of pain. The whole area was rammed.
“Fans know that if they car share it’s cheaper to pay a parking fine than to park at the bet365 Stadium and that’s just messed up. I can understand where they are coming from but why should all the residents suffer so they could go to watch a game? My neighbour is a very old bloke and he shouldn't be walking miles to park. It was a nice day so it pulled even more people out to watch the match.
“The parking was worse than normal. There’s a car park and it was completely busy, there was nowhere we could park. The council there was a little bit of a dropped kerb on the path, and that I was blocking it.”
Danny has since appealed the fine.
He added: “They are not getting paid. I had to go to the chemist to get my prescription and when I came back one of the neighbours told me I had got a ticket. I was like ‘are you taking the p**s?’. A lot of the other streets have had problems with Stoke fans parking up there and the council has actually turned it to permit parking only but they haven't done it anywhere near here yet.
“We are hoping they will do it sometime in the near future. I would definitely be applying for a permit if it becomes permit parking only. I haven’t heard from the council. They need to drop the fine and deal with the issue in this area. They need to be dealing with the issue with Stoke fans which has been an ongoing thing for years - not just here but in all the local streets.
“This fine is insulting. It’s really disgusting. I think the only way they could get around it is having a permit only unless they have someone surveying the area when Stoke are due to play.”
A city council spokesman said: “The penalty was issued for a car parked on a pavement blocking the tactile dropped kerb intended to support people with disabilities, in particular those with a visual impairment. Mr Wilson is welcome to appeal the decision and the circumstances of the penalty will be looked into. Mr Wilson may contact us to find out more about residents’ parking schemes.”
