SIR - I came to MJR Balloons on the Gunnelswood Road Industrial Estate in Stevenage on Saturday to pick up balloons for my daughter s birthday party. There were no car parking spaces available in the car park behind MJR Balloons and so I pulled up in fro

SIR - I came to MJR Balloons on the Gunnelswood Road Industrial Estate in Stevenage on Saturday to pick up balloons for my daughter's birthday party.

There were no car parking spaces available in the car park behind MJR Balloons and so I pulled up in front of the unit, where there is a five minute waiting time. I was unaware at this point that one of the parking spaces behind the unit was in fact being used by a parking attendant's van.

As I collected the balloons, I noticed that a parking attendant was issuing a ticket, claiming that I had been parked for six minutes, despite the fact that the owners of MJR Balloons and I are sure that I was only parked for five minutes.

The ticket has been issued and the attendant can tick the box to say she has allocated the daily quota of tickets she is targeted to give out. The wait time in this area is between the hours of 9.30am and 1pm - the exact opening hours for MJR Balloons on a Saturday morning. Coincidence? I think not! This is not about safety, preventing obstruction or the law, this is about generating revenue. Furthermore, I fail to understand why these parking attendants can park their vehicles in the loading bay opposite the Westgate Centre in Stevenage town centre for up to 8 hours per day without incurring a penalty charge and yet members of the public cannot park for the allocated wait time to pick up goods in an area that has hardly any traffic at all on a Saturday morning. Obviously a case of one rule for them and another for us.

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