A woman has been left ‘fuming’ after being slapped with a parking fine at Rochdale Leisure Centre.
Tracey Keith says the car park is always full just after 9am, making it difficult to attend gym classes. Last week she dared to park in the permit only section of the car park and was hit with a £70 fine.
The 60-year-old believes the council is falling foul of their commitments to improving public health by restricting the number of parking spaces in the gym for a ‘money making scheme’.
The 73-space ‘permit only’ parking section is available for £39 per month for anyone, which equates to £468 per year. There are 148 spaces for general use and 12 disabled parking spaces available in the rest of the car park off Entwisle Road.
Tracey said: “People with health issues or older people are the ones mainly going through the day. They can’t walk long distances from car parks further away.
“I have just changed my working schedule so now I can go to classes in the morning. But I can’t because I can’t park anywhere.
“Looking at the classes during the day, they are never booked because people can’t get a space in the car park. Someone I know goes to Todmorden now instead because they couldn’t get a space.
“The council preaches health and says no to fast food places being built like McDonald’s. But they have a gym that people can’t use because there is not enough parking.
“I was told I could park at the Riverside multi-storey car park next to M&S down the road. But why should I pay for parking when I already pay for a membership.
“It’s just a money making scheme. They just want to charge the public extra for this.”
Tracey’s parking fine will be reduced to £35 if she pays within an allotted timeframe. She feels the council should make sure there is enough parking at the gym, which is a popular spot in the town centre area.
Tracey has even taken a video of cars circling the area waiting for someone else to leave so they can swoop in and take their parking spot.
A spokesperson for Rochdale council said: “The back of the car park at Rochdale Leisure Centre is designated for permit holders only, from Monday to Friday, 8am – 6pm, and this has been the case since it first opened. The whole car park is available for users of the leisure centre outside these times.
“This section of car park is not solely for the use of council staff. Any member of the public, including council staff, can apply for a parking permit. Council staff do not have any priority with regards to the allocation or cost of permits.
“We carry out enforcement of the whole car park using the same contractor we use at council owned sites across the borough.”
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