A woman who drove into a parking lot at night to nurse her distressed baby was fined £ 170.
Amanda Ruggeri of Bude drove back from Newquay with her partner on Sunday May 2 when their 12 week old baby had a meltdown.
The family parked in the Newquay Golf Club lot for 21 minutes while the baby was fed.
The irony, Amanda says, is that the £ 170 fine is more than her stay at the seaside resort of Mousehole.
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Amanda explained, “Our baby suddenly became very distressed in the car.
“She’s never a fan of the car, but it was a total meltdown – absolutely screaming and purple in the face.
“We had no idea if she had a health incident or what was going on.”
Amanda said her husband stopped in the first place he could in the Newquay Golf Club parking lot.
She doesn’t know the area, she said, so they wouldn’t drive around “aimlessly”.
She said, “It was 7:51 pm and the parking lot was empty so we didn’t think anyone would mind.
“It turned out that our little girl was just very, very hungry and needed to be fed.
“I breastfed her for 20 minutes and then we left.
“Weeks later, Smart Parking Ltd, who managed the Newquay Golf Club car park, got us a ticket for a staggering £ 170 for being ‘illegally’ parked for 21 minutes.”
She says that given the circumstances they were in, she needs to breastfeed and care for their baby, believes they are protected by the 2010 Equal Opportunities Act.
Amanda Ruggeri with her partner and baby
(Image: Amanda Ruggeri)
She said that at this age, feeding a breastfed baby “on demand” because it does not yet have a feeding schedule.
She explained: “We appealed to Smart Parking Ltd to drop the fee. In our appeal we also mentioned that in our distress we had not even seen the signs that we are not allowed to park there after hours.”
However, the appeal was denied, and Amanda said they hadn’t even deliberated with the couple about breastfeeding their young baby.
She also said they contacted Newquay Golf Club to see if they could help intervene.
But they replied: “I am sorry that we cannot help with this matter and since Smart Parking operates the parking garage, it can only be handled through them.”
CornwallLive previously reported claims for unfair parking fees at Newquay Golf Club.
One golfer said there was a sign asking visitors to register their vehicles with the club’s tablet, but not where it was.
Amanda said the couple “didn’t want to cause trouble,” but accused Smart Parking of being “predatory, discriminatory and frankly unlawful.”
The appeal was rejected by Smart Parking last month and the couple now have the option to appeal to POPLA.
She added, “The irony is that we were literally gone one night with our little one, our first time with her, and that fine for feeding was way more than all of our meals and other expenses of the trip combined.”
Smart Parking and Newquay Golf Club have the right to reply.
Do you think Amanda should have to pay the fine? let us know in the comments below.
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