Blood donation proves costly

Parking fine angers donor

A DELPH blood donor is up in arms after Oldham Council refused to waive a parking fine issued while she was giving blood.

Jane Riley, from Huddersfield Road, attended a blood donor session with a friend at Oldham Civic Centre and paid for one hour’s parking.

As they left, her friend felt faint so the pair stopped for a few minutes until she recovered.

When they reached her car, Mrs Riley found a parking ticket had been issued at 7.10pm — six minutes after her time ran out.

Mrs Riley said the car parking attendant who issued the ticket advised her to appeal against it as she would be successful.

She then wrote to the council asking for the fee to be waived but it refused.

She said: “I accepted I was responsible for paying for parking and, had I been engaged in leisure activity, would not have asked for the fee to be waived.

“I explained that we were there acting out of a sense of public duty and felt it would be a goodwill gesture for them to waive the fine.

“I am very disappointed to find that Oldham Council are so inflexible.”

Mrs Riley said she wondered why two parking attendants were on duty on a Monday evening when the only activity going on was the blood donor session.

She added: “I suggested to the council that they may even consider providing free parking on such occasions but they did not refer to this in their response.

“I feel strongly that the council could, in this instance, have made an exception and waived the fee.”

A spokesman for Oldham Council said: “There is an appeals process available and we would advise Mrs Riley to follow that process.”