SOUTH Lakeland District Council has defended itself following claims a traffic warden issued a ticket to a tourist who was undergoing treatment for cancer.

Gabriella Gatrix and her partner recently visited Ambleside, driving up from Preston, The Metro reported.

The national newspaper said that while visiting friends, Ms Gatrix, 45, realised medication she needed had been left in the boot. Her boyfriend, 42-year-old Chris O'Hare, went to retrieve it and in the process pulled their parked motor home forward a few feet, it was claimed.

Ms Gatrix recently completed her sixth cycle of chemotherapy to treat cancer, meaning daily injections and doses of medication are required.

A civil enforcement officer noticing this subsequently issued a £25 spot fine as the vehicle was encroaching over the allotted space.

The couple appealed the decision, saying it was necessary in order to retrieve the medicine, however it was declined.

After The Mail approached SLDC for comment, a spokesman said: "We can appreciate Mr O’Hare’s position and understand the reasons why he needed to be parked at that time.

"However, the Civil Enforcement Officer who issued the ticket would have no way of knowing the circumstances at the time and correctly issued the notice as the vehicle was not parked in the bay, and due to its size wouldn’t be able to fit in the bay under any circumstances, and as a result was encroaching on the safe use of the site.

"At appeal the owner has the option to provide any mitigation and whilst the issue of medication and illness does provide some grounds, it was considered that because the vehicle had a side access door and no other vehicles were parked alongside that the argument put forward for the position of the vehicle was not reason enough to uphold the appeal."

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