Lindley couple Gavin and Sharlene Noble winded by parking fine

Nov 3 2009 By Emma Davison

A COUPLE have blasted Kirklees Council for twice charging them for parking outside their own home.

Two years ago Gavin and Sharlene Noble were fined for forgetting to display their parking permit in their car outside their Lindley home.

Now the Union Street couple are furious they have been stung again – this time after a gust of wind knocked the permit off the dashboard.

Fuming Mrs Noble, 40, said: “I can’t believe this has happened to us again.

“It’s ridiculous because it was a simple human error and we are prepared to take Kirklees to court over this.”

The couple hit the Examiner headlines two years ago, after a traffic warden fined them for illegally parking in a residential zone.

The couple did have a permit, but busy Mrs Noble forgot to check it was propped up properly as she rushed into the house preoccupied with her screaming baby.

Council chiefs eventually cancelled the fine but the couple have now been hit for the second time, again while parked outside their own home.

Mrs Noble said: “I was rushing around trying to get everything organised for my son Iwan’s birthday party and I had to get my three-year-old Victoria, who was desperate for the toilet, into the house.

“The permit was on display, but because it was windy when I shut the door, it seemed to have blown off the window and into the cup holder by the seat.

“The warden then came along, seemed to have not spotted this and put a fine on the car.

“I must have missed them by about thirty seconds, otherwise I would have been able to explain what happened.”

The couple appealed to the council against the £70 fine, but it was rejected.

They now say the fine is completely out of proportion for what is merely a ‘human error’.

Mrs Noble said: “If we were parked somewhere else we could understand, but we have been residents here for 13 years.