Leeds Bradford Airport: Pensioners' distress at getting court summons after parking for 27 seconds

Pensioners Janet and John Ayre, both 77, were driving behind their son Nigel in their blue Audi on August 17 last year while on their way to Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) for a family holiday.

The family had booked spots in the long stay car park but accidentally went through the entrance to the short stay area. Nigel pulled up and asked a member of staff where to go and John and Janet pulled up behind him.

Janet said: “There was no option to U-turn or progress forwards as the only way forward was through the bus lane which triggers a fine and U-turning would also trigger a fine.

"Nigel pulled into the entrance to the short stay car park to ask the assistant if we could just drive through or whether we had to pay. He said it was fine and that he’d open the barrier and let us straight through.

"We stopped because the person in front of us stopped. There was nothing we could do.”

Upon their return home after the holiday the couple were shocked to find a parking notice of £100 for staying stationary “in a zone where stopping is not permitted”.

The couple disputed the fine and during the course of the dispute they were sent “video evidence” of a man in a completely different car talking on the phone.

The couple then raised the issue to an independent adjudicator and were “utterly baffled” when they responded saying that they had found in favour of the parking company.

Despite their continued complaints and footage of a different car being used as evidence, the couple were told by the parking operator – Vehicle Control Services – that they would be taken to court over a charge of £255 and received numerous “threatening” emails as they continued to dispute the fine.

Janet said that LBA had even asked the parking operator not to proceed with the fine but they would not drop it.

However, fortunately just under a year on from when they visited the airport the couple received a letter from Vehicle Control Services dated August 4 informing them that the charge had been dropped.

Janet said: “It’s been a fight for justice.

"It’s been a whole year of us fighting these bullies. There was no apology or anything for what they put us through.

"The fact they had no regrets means I just despair that there will be a lot more people who are faced with this when they haven’t done anything wrong.”

She added: “It’s just been very, very stressful. We’ve always tried to do things fair and be honest and we always seem to be the ones that get downtrodden.”

A spokesperson for LBA confirmed the charged had been waived “based on the individual circumstance”.

Vehicle Control Services were contacted for a statement but did not respond.