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22

Sept 2020

Last Updated: 22/09/2020
Ripon
Ripon

Ripon Post Office van receives parking ticket

by Tim Flanagan

| 22 Sept, 2020
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Ripon's mobile Post Office unit received an unexpected delivery, when a parking ticket was put on its windscreen while a customer was being served inside the vehicle. Its operators have vowed to appeal against the move.

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Ripon's Postmistress, Amy Kaur, is seeing red after the city's mobile Post Office vehicle received a parking ticket while a customer was being served.

Mrs Kaur said she is going to appeal against the ticket - but Harrogate Borough Council has stood by the action its employee took.

The van is currently providing services in the city, following the closure of the Post Office building in Finkle Street. It was parked in disabled bays in front of So! Bar in Old Market Place, when the traffic warden issued the £70 penalty charge notice.

Mrs Kaur told the Stray Ferret:

"I'm furious. We were busily serving people and one customer was on the vehicle when the traffic warden arrived.
"We told him we would move the van, but for safety reasons couldn't do so while a someone was being served inside the vehicle."




Gordon Royle, who manages the mobile service, added:

"I could barely believe it when he continued with issuing the ticket.
"The vehicle was located in the bays because we couldn't park immediately outside our former premises, which were being decommissioned by a team that needed access all day."
"With no other option, we parked in the bays, which were the only safe place for the large queue of people waiting to be served."


With social distancing measures strictly adhered to, customers wearing masks were allowed onto the vehicle one at a time.

The mobile unit is normally used to serve people living in outlying villages in the Ripon area, but is temporarily remaining in the city until September 28 when new Post Office premises are due to be opened in The Arcade.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council said:

“We received no prior communication from the Post Office that their branch would be closing and they planned on providing a temporary solution in a regularly-used disabled parking space.
“If we had, we could have suggested an alternative that would have been better for all involved and not had an impact on those who truly need the space.
“As with any penalty charge notice, anyone who believes they have received one in error can appeal via our website at: www.harrogate.gov.uk/parking.”