A woman says she has had to pay hundreds of pounds in parking fines after being told she was not eligible for a residents’ parking permit outside her flat.
Rebecca Coad moved into a two-bed apartment at Headland House in Blue Boar Lane, Rochester, in the summer with her friend, which only has a single allocated parking bay in a small private car park.
However, she says the surrounding streets on Rochester Riverside Walk are lined with residents’ permit-holder bays, most of which remain empty in the evenings.
The 25-year-old, who is originally from Maidstone, explained: “We only have one parking bay, which is fine, I understand that.
“But surrounding the whole building are residents permit holders only bays, and they’re all just empty most of the time.
“I applied for a resident’s permit, and they declined it and said that there’s nothing they can do and that I couldn’t appeal the decision.
“It’s just ridiculous because it’s not like it’s a free thing that I’m asking for. I’m willing to pay, and I am a resident.”
With no permit available and only one private space to share, Rebecca says she has had little choice but to park in permit-holder bays when she returns home from work.
As a result, she has received around seven parking tickets, at a cost of more than £300.
Her flatmate has also been given six parking tickets as the pair alternate keeping their cars in their single allocated spot.
The permit-holder bays can be parked in for up to two hours at a time for free, with no return within one hour.
They have attempted to avoid the fines by swapping their cars between the time-limited bays, or moving them every two hours – but Rebecca, who works in the lift industry, says this is not always possible.
“Sometimes I get home at 10pm. You can’t realistically keep moving your car every couple of hours,” she added.
“The permit would have been cheaper than the tickets. I just want to pay to park where I live.”
Rebecca also sometimes uses a multi-storey car park, which is around a 10-minute walk away, but has raised safety concerns about doing so.
She explained: “I don’t feel safe walking home alone at night. In the summer, it might be okay, but now it’s dark early, and it’s an unnecessary risk
“I don’t really want to be walking home alone at night, you never know what could happen.”
A Medway Council spokesperson said: “Headland House is not eligible for Medway Council residential parking permits, as the development has access to private parking, which was provided under the original planning approval.
“Headland House’s parking is not available to other households in surrounding streets, so the property is excluded from the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) permit scheme to ensure fairness and consistency.
“Such arrangements are common across Medway, particularly where pressure on parking is high, and are discussed and agreed during the planning approval process.
“Although Headland House is not eligible for residential permits, residents are still able to make use of our visitor parking scheme, and can purchase up to 15 daily visitor vouchers every 30 days.
“These vouchers allow parking within the relevant CPZ on a short-term basis for visitors but can also be used by the resident.”
