Mum on Universal Credit 'intimidated' over bailiff's £400 parking demand
08.05.2022 - 19:27
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A mum said she felt "intimidated" by a bailiff's demand for £400 after a dispute over a parking ticket. Jemma Martin was given the penalty after parking over a white line during a family day out at the seaside.
The 31-year-old, a single working mum on Universal Credit, said she felt threatened after bailiffs knocked at her door. She said the sum asked for was a "massive chunk" of the money she has every month to provide for her children.
Miss Martin, 31, had travelled to Skegness last August bank holiday for a day out with her then-partner and children, who were aged four and 18 months at the time, LincolnshireLive reports. But when they got there, she said they were unable to open the car doors properly to get the children and a pushchair in and out of the car.
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Because there were no parent and child parking spaces, Miss Martin, from Beechdale, Nottingham, parked slightly over the white line to create room. She was then given a parking ticket, which she has since been disputing with East Lindsey District Council.
Bailiffs visited her home on April 4. She said: "I have had the bailiff at my door asking for £394. But I wasn't financially in a position to pay that."
When Miss Martin told the debt collector she could not pay, he allegedly threatened to take her car, but could not because it was financed. He then made another threat, according to Miss Martin, to go into her house.
"I was very intimidated, he was quite a big bloke," she said. On a form that the debt collector left, it stated Miss Martin had paid voluntarily, but she said she paid because she felt "threatened."
She said: "I am five foot two inches, what could I do?"