No matter what the cause, airports in England are ruthless in issuing a parking charge notices (PCN) if a car stops in a red zone.
A man visiting the airport had to stop his car for 18 seconds in a red zone at Leeds Bradford airport (LBA/EGNM) to deal with a large wasp. It was buzzing right in front of my face and making safe-driving impossible.
The result was a £100 parking charge notice sent to my wife (the registered owner) by Vehicle Control Services (VCS). The gentleman went on saying I’ve explained the circumstances to VCS, whose CCTV footage shows I only stopped for 18 seconds and never left the car, but it won’t listen.
Things did improved when I contacted the airport, which ordered the VCS to refund the charge as “goodwill”. The airport tells me that if you had contacted it directly, it would have intervened earlier. However, it is evidently worried that its actions in this case will open the floodgates to wasp-ridden drivers.
“Stopping in this area remains enforceable,” it says sternly. “And due to the safety-critical nature of the road, we would not be able to consider cancellation of any future penalty notices for stopping in this area.” VCS did not respond to a request for a comment.
Parking operators are infamously ruthless when enforcing airport no-stopping zones. In the past drivers have been charged for stopping at temporary lights, or waiting in traffic queues and had to go on and fight the charges.
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