Engineer given parking ticket while attending gas leak calls on Wakefield Council to issue new parking permit for emergency responders

Gas engineer Kevin Joy was issued a parking ticket in January while attending a suspected gas leak at a house close to Wakefield city centre.

Despite leaving a note in his windscreen explaining where he was, he returned his van after the job to find a ticket had been issued.

Now, after months of attempting to overturn his ticket and clarify how he can avoid receiving one in future, he says he has received no response from the council.

He says officials are now threatening to send bailiffs to his house to collect the fine, which has risen to almost £500.

Kevin said: “I was called out to a suspected gas leak by a landlord and nobody was in the property to give me a parking pass.

“The property could have exploded.

“If an ambulance is parked without a permit, would they give it a ticket? There’s very little difference. There could have been a danger to life and property.

“The council can’t give me a definitive answer on what I’m meant to do. I’m legally bound to attend a gas leak, I’d lose my gas certification if I didn’t.”

Kevin wants gas engineers to be granted special parking permits, to be used when attending emergency call outs, that would prevent tickets being handed out for parking in restricted areas.

He says a previous ticket, issued in a similar situation, was later overturned, and he was willing to take this case to court to establish how he could avoid tickets in future.

He said: “The last time I went to court was five years ago.

“I showed them the ticket and the invoice from the job and they said in future just make sure you’ve got a sign in your windscreen saying you’re on an emergency call.

“This time I’ve said right from the outset that I’m disputing it and we’ll go to court.

“I asked for all that and then they issued a warrant for a bailiff behind my back.

“We can’t actually clarify what we’re meant to do as a company. I’ve rung and written and sent a copy of the invoice and now they’re sending the bailiffs.

“I don’t know what to do next time. I get called out all the time to permit parking places. What am I meant to say now - ‘sorry, I can’t do it’?”

Kevin says he has wasted dozens of hours attempting to overturn his ticket since the start of the year, but has not received answers to his concerns.

Gary Blenkinsop, Wakefield Council’s Service Director for Environment and Streetscene, said: “Unfortunately, the Council do not issue ‘emergency’ parking permits for contractors to use whilst working at properties within residential parking areas.

“The Council can provide a dispensation permit to cover parking whilst undertaking programmed or routine work if applied for in advance.

“Anyone who feels they have been issued with a parking ticket incorrectly has the right to appeal and any mitigating circumstances will be taken into consideration.”