“It’s so unfair. I could not move the car”
20:33, 30 Jul 2025Updated 20:33, 30 Jul 2025
The letter sent to Robyn(Image: LDRS)
A pregnant mum says she was chased by bailiffs over a £170 car parking fine — for breaking down at a Metrolink park and ride.
Robyn Leach, 35, commutes to her city centre office job twice a week by driving to the Brooklands Metrolink park and ride, and hopping on a tram into town. On the morning of April 3, she parked up as usual and went to do her regular 9-5, but had to work an evening event as well.
It meant Robyn, who lives in Sale, didn’t return to her car ‘until midnight’. But disaster struck when she tried to get going: Her Mercedes A-class would not start.
In the dark, she used her phone torch to write a note which she left on her windscreen to explain her car couldn’t move.
Exhausted, Robyn then took a taxi home and was planning on using her partner’s AA membership to remove the car. However, because he was asleep, the couple called for breakdown cover at 8:14am the next morning.
The AA diagnosed the issue as a dead battery and replaced it at the park and ride, so Robyn’s partner drove the car home at 9:15am.
But a few weeks later, Robyn received a letter from Ocean Parking saying she had breached a rule which bans overnight parking at Brooklands — and issued a £100 fine.
Robyn appealed the decision, but Ocean rejected her claim in a letter seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Months on, Robyn was contacted by a ‘debt recovery company who are now sending legal letters about taking me to court’ over the fine, which rose to £170.
“It’s so unfair. I could not move the car,” she explained.
“I took all reasonable steps by putting the notes on and I moved it first thing. I did not think it’s fair to pay hundreds for something I have no control over.”
Robyn also says she contacted Metrolink customer services because she ‘assumed they would see reason’ but ‘they said they do not have the authority over appeal decisions made by Ocean’.
Mum-of-one Robyn added: “How can they outsource parking to companies and have no accountability over those firms, and see if Ocean is doing its job?”
However, after the Local Democracy Reporting Service raised Robyn’s case with Transport for Greater Manchester, Metrolink’s parent organisation, they intervened to tell Ocean Parking to cancel the fine.
A Transport for Greater Manchester spokesperson said: “We’re sorry for any upset the fine has caused and while the restrictions are in place for good reason, we do believe that some discretion should be shown in exceptional circumstances, such as this case.
“We have reviewed the situation with the operator and have requested that the fine be cancelled and no further action taken.”
Ocean Parking was contacted for comment.