Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Mother fined £60 for stopping to breastfeed baby in car park

'Oliver hadn’t been well that week and all of a sudden he had this accident as we were driving,' says Sami Irlam

Maya Oppenheim
Friday 24 August 2018 15:32 BST
Comments
The woman charged for overstaying a 10-minute grace period in a car park in Crewe intends to appeal
The woman charged for overstaying a 10-minute grace period in a car park in Crewe intends to appeal

A mother has been given a £60 fine after she stopped to breastfeed and change her baby in a car park in Crewe.

Sami Irlam made a brief detour to a shopping centre car park in the Cheshire town after her son had a “nappy emergency” and screamed because he needed feeding.

The 24-year-old pulled into the Market Shopping Centre car park, where she spent just over 20 minutes breastfeeding her four-month-old baby, Oliver.

The mother of three received a parking charge notice for £60 after cameras caught her staying beyond the 10-minute grace period, after which a ticket must be bought.

Ms Irlam said she appealed the decision on the grounds that she was anxious to find a place to both change and feed her son.

However, the appeals department at Bank Park Management – which recently took over running the car park – said: “The PCN [parking charge notice] was issued correctly”.

“Oliver hadn’t been well that week and all of a sudden he had this accident as we were driving,” Ms Irlam told The Chester Chronicle.

“I had all my children with me in the car and I had to stop quickly. It was one of those crazy moments. I didn’t buy a ticket as I had a screaming baby covered head to toe, including the car seat and he needed a feed so I cleaned him up and then sat with him in the car to breastfeed him.

“To be honest I wasn’t aware the car park had been taken over and had the ANPR cameras. On that particular car park there used to be an attendant so if he would have come by I could have explained the situation, plus the Equality Act says that it is discrimination to treat a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding.”

She said she was not “stingy” about forking out for a ticket but felt the company should have shown greater empathy.

“If we had just parked up and gone off somewhere then fine – but I just feel in this case they should have had a little more understanding and compassion about the whole situation,” she said.

Ms Irlam is required to now pay £60 within 14 days or the fine will go up to £100, but she plans to take the incident to the Independent Appeals Service.

“The signage at the aforementioned car park clearly states a valid Pay and Display ticket must be purchased within 10 minutes showing the entire vehicle registration mark upon entry on to this land,” said a copy of an email sent to her obtained by the local paper.

“Whilst we are sympathetic with the situation provided in your correspondence, a ticket would have needed to have been purchased to cover your stay. An attempt at making a payment prior to leaving the car park or utilising a passenger to make a payment would have been suffice [sic].

“The appeal has been reviewed. The ANPR and Metric data (as applicable) have all been taken into account. Having considered the content of your appeal and unfortunately the PCN was issued correctly [sic].

“Whilst you may not of [sic] breached the Terms and Conditions of the car park intentionally, the fact remains that you were in contravention of them on the day question [sic]. We regret to disappoint you but the circumstances you provided us with give us no grounds to waive the Parking Charge Notice.”

The incident comes as the debate about breastfeeding in public raged on this week after an author sparked fury for comparing public breastfeeding to urinating in the street.

Journalist Virginia Blackburn branded the act “anti-social” and said it should be kept private during an appearance on This Morning on Wednesday.

The comments came during an intense debate between Ms Blackburn and two mothers, Natalie Forester and Chloe Hattersley, who were asked to stop nursing their children in a swimming pool.

Ms Forrester, who was attending a baby swimming lesson with her son in Stoke-On-Trent leisure centre, said she moved to the corner of the pool as soon as she realised he required feeding. But Ms Forrester said she was promptly asked by the instructor to get out of the pool before breastfeeding.

Recalling the saga, Ms Forrester explained she was only waist down in the water, adding: “I was really shocked because in the eight years that I’ve been breastfeeding for it was the first time that anyone has ever said anything.”

Ms Blackburn lent her backing to the leisure centre’s decision to ask the mother to leave the pool – saying people “don’t want to see” mothers breastfeeding their babies.

“It’s on a level with urinating in the street,” she said. “You have a path that leads to increasingly anti-social behaviour and I’d say it’s on that path. If I’m sitting in a cafe or a swimming pool I don’t want people to start engaging in bodily functions that have usually been kept private.”

“It’s about consideration for other people. If you are in a public place it’s not something you necessarily want to see. I don’t like breastfeeding in public at all.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in