A man in self isolation has had to watch as traffic wardens repeatedly ticket his car outside his house despite his pleas through the window.
Peter Pratt says he has four tickets, two on his car and two on his work car which were parked outside his own house.
But as he pleaded with them to waive the fines they just replied: ‘We don’t care. We are just here to do our jobs.’
Peter Pratt from Chatham in Kent has complained that his car, pictured, has been given four parking tickets despite being outside his home. He said he is unable to move the vehicle as he is on self-isolation having developed suspected coronavirus symptoms
Mr Pratt noticed the growing pile of tickets on the windscreen of his car
The 40-year-old was sent home from work last week after picking up a sore throat and bad chest and is self-isolating, following doctors’ advice.
He would usually collect visitor parking permits from his library because the council had not yet delivered his residents’ permit.
But he could no longer do this after his isolation began last Tuesday, and he added that nobody was available to collect the permits on his behalf.
Mr Pratt, who works as a portable appliance tester, placed notes explaining his situation in his two cars; one for work and his personal vehicle.
The next day a traffic warden slapped a parking ticket on his car and ignored the sick man as he pleaded with him from his doorstep.
He filmed the incident on his smartphone in order to gather evidence to support his appeal.
Mr Pratt said: ‘I would normally have been out there swearing at them a lot more than I was. You just think they would use a bit of common sense.’
His cars are parked directly in front of his bedroom window at his home in Chatham, Kent.
Mr Pratt, pictured, has been unable to collect a residents’ permit from his local library because of the conoravirus lockdown. He has asked Medway council to quash the fines as he cannot afford the £200 because his earnings have collapsed
He added: ‘I had been trying to keep an eye on it. On the first day, I saw a traffic warden put one on my car, I tried to explain through my window that I’m in self-isolation, and they just said ‘Oh well, we don’t care. We are just here to do our jobs.’
Mr Pratt then called the council and spoke to several departments to explain his predicament.
Mr Pratt added: ‘They just gave me the run around and said ‘Oh well, you should have someone who can do this for you.’
‘Well, I’m 40, my parents are in their 70s, my sisters all work, all my friends work and I have to make time during the day, in between jobs, to go and get them myself.’
Within just three days of isolation Mr Pratt had received four tickets – two on each car – totalling £200.
On Saturday, he received his residents’ parking permit for his personal car, but is still awaiting one for his work car.
Mr Pratt has now contacted his ward councillor to try to resolve the issue, after speaking to the council failed.
He added: ‘They are just unwilling to actually discuss it with anyone. I couldn’t even go out there, get them, and start the appeals process to say I’m locked down because I’m not meant to be going out of the house.’
Mr Pratt left his house to collect the tickets on Tuesday and is now appealing all four fines.
He said: ‘I’m worried about my finances because I’m on statutory sick pay and my salary will be cut by 20 per cent for the next three months.
‘Now I’m hoping that the council make the right decision and accept my appeals.
‘To pay £200 in fines right now would be a travesty.’
Medway Council has now said it will focus on more serious parking offences during the coronavirus crisis.
A council spokesperson said: ‘We understand that due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) there may be less parking available on Medway’s residential roads as more people are at home with their vehicles.
‘However, it is essential that we maintain safe roads and pavements for pedestrians and other motorists.
‘We will be now concentrating our parking enforcement on vehicles which are parked in a dangerous or inconsiderate manner.’
There have been almost 12,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, including the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who today admitted he had been infected by the disease and was in self isolation