The new pick-up and drop-off area at the airport had only just opened, but 84-year-old Bryan Sealey fell foul of the rules
Bryan Sealey, 84, was picking his family up after their holiday to Zante
A man from Portishead has accused Bristol Airport of “extorting” his 84-year-old dad who was hit with a £100 fine for asking for directions. Bryan Sealey, a retired British Aerospace engineer, drove to the airport to pick up his son Gary and his family on their return from a holiday to Zante on August 10.
Mr Sealey was confused by the airport’s new pick-up and drop-off area and briefly stopped to ask a passer-by for directions. The brief pause resulted in the pensioner receiving a hefty £100 fine, in addition to having to pay £7 for a 10-minute pick up.
Gary said: “He was just basically trying to find out where to go to collect us. And (to be fined £100 for) that seems just completely unreasonable. This is simply extortion and poor implementation of a scheme designed to stop people freely dropping and picking up and causing congestion and safety issues.” For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter here.
Gary helped his dad, who he thinks stopped for between ten and fifteen seconds, to challenge the fine but they received little sympathy from airport parking enforcement partner, Vehicle Control Services.
The letter Mr Sealey received in response said: “We note your comment that you stopped to ask directions; however, as stated, the signs near to the location you stopped clearly stated “No Stopping” and warned that if you did so, you were liable for the Charge displayed.”
Gary has lodged a further appeal with the Independent Appeals Services, reports Bristol Live.
He added: “I always assumed it would be declined, I mean when does common sense ever prevail.”
Bryan Sealey, 84, was shocked to receive the hefty fine(Image: Gary Sealey)
The family’s frustrations were exacerbated further by the fact the fine was issued on August 15, but the notice of the fine only arrived at Mr Sealey’s home on August 27, just two days before the deadline to either pay or appeal the fine at a reduced rate of £60.
They had further problems as the fine could only be appealed online, which posed another challenge for Gary’s technologically challenged father.
“My mum and dad, at their age, don’t have a single device in the house that connects to the internet,” Gary explained. “They don’t have a laptop, they don’t have a smartphone.
“They’re in their mid-80s, and they watch telly, and that’s about it. They’ve still got a landline home phone, so I’ve had to sort it out for them because there’s no way of contesting it or anything by phone.
“If you ring any of the help lines, they just refer you back to the website, then cut you off. It’s a really poor process to be honest.”
The change to the airport layout which confused Mr Sealey was due to its new £60m transport interchange, which expanded its bus and coach capacity and introduced the new pick-up and drop-off area. Despite the incident with his father, Gary was generally positive about the new layout.
He said: “I actually found the new layout a big improvement. I was quite impressed with everything, and then this kind of took the shine off the whole experience and, to a certain extent, the holiday as well.”
The fresh layout had only been introduced a few weeks before when Mr Sealey received his penalty.
The airport has faced previous criticism over the costly nature of its pick-up and drop-off zone.
Charges begin at £7 for a 10-minute slot, rising to £9 for up to 20 minutes and then £13 for a stay of between 20 and 40 minutes.
Bristol Airport has been contacted for comment.