Jill’s Flowerbox owner got parking ticket outside Stockton business
Jill Marshall, 59, shared a video of an enforcement officer writing up the ticket outside her business, Jill’s Flowerbox, on Dovecot Street in Stockton town centre.
She is heard challenging the officers: “You need to use your common sense because actually all I’m trying to do is load.
“And clearly I can’t load because there’s three vehicles, none of which have tickets on them. And yet I get a ticket when I’m trying to load because two officers can’t use their common sense.
“Not able to run my business because actually these two officers haven’t got the common sense they were born with, unfortunately.”
She said she was picking up a couple of extra bouquets from her shop on a busy March 29, the day before Mother’s Day, adding: “I’d already loaded my vehicle in the loading bay, then two customers rang for more deliveries and you don’t like to say no. I popped back to the shop to collect these two arrangements, and the parking officer said, ‘You can’t park there.’
“I said I couldn’t park in the loading bay, I’d got nowhere to park. He gave me a ticket anyway.
“I wasn’t loading 20 bouquets, I was picking up an extra two. It wasn’t half an hour, it wasn’t 10 minutes.
“It’s common sense for the officers to go, ‘I can see you’ve got nowhere to park, don’t be long,’ and that’s all it takes.”
Jill, who runs the business with her daughter Rachel, said she often found the loading bay outside her shop taken up with parked cars: “It’s always full of parked cars, people who are not loading. It’s not enforced.
“Cars are there for hours. They walk past a full loading bay and don’t do anything with it.
“We can’t operate. We’ve got nowhere to load. It’s disgraceful.”
She spoke of her frustration, criticised the training of enforcement officers and said she had been repeatedly ticketed in the last couple of years, leaving her feeling intimidated and anxious while trying to run her small family business. She said customers making collections had also been ticketed, and she has complained to the council.
She added: “They gave us five minutes on Valentine’s Day while we were trying to load in the loading bay, this loading bay we fought for in the last regeneration of Stockton.
“We’ve got nobody on Stockton Council who is willing to address this. I can’t operate my business.
“We shouldn’t have to come up against that every day of the week. You feel anxious, you physically shake, it’s making your life hell.”
She wants more understanding to be shown to traders in a town where the council is keen to improve footfall: “I’ve been in Stockton for over 33 years, I bought my property 27 years ago. I invested in the town centre.
“I’d just like them to brief their officers on a little bit of common sense and let us go about our day. It’s not rocket science.
“It’s just not acceptable. Nobody wants a town centre full of empty shops.”
Councillor Norma Stephenson, Stockton Council’s cabinet member for access, communities and community safety, said: “We are aware of the video circulating online. The footage is from several weeks ago and we have been in touch directly with the resident with a response.
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“Whilst we appreciate the frustration caused when cars are parked in loading bays, our enforcement officers are simply doing their jobs and cannot ignore a car parked in a ‘no waiting, no loading’ area. Ultimately, the main aim for our officers is to ensure that the road network around the town remains safe and free of obstructions for the general public.
“In a situation like this where cars are parked in loading bays, we would urge residents to call 01642 607943 as our excellent CCTV control room team can alert the nearest enforcement officer on patrol.
“Each of the cars seen in the video parked in the loading bays which did not move were also given a penalty charge notice. We will continue to take action to help ensure the loading bays remain clear for their correct usage, including carrying out our regular patrols of the area.”