Parking ticket for stopping during two-minute silence

Anna Whitworth was driving through central London on Armistice Day when she heard Big Ben strike 11am. She pulled over on double yellow lines in a quiet street in Kensington, and stood by her car to remember those who had fallen during the First World War. While she was standing there, a traffic warden slapped her car with a ticket.

She told The Times that she had pulled over to remember her great-uncle, a sea captain who died when his ship was sunk during the war. She said that while she was standing by her car: "A ticket officer came up to my car making noises that I couldn't park there. I told him I was only observing the silence for Armistice Day for those fallen in the war but he just looked completely blank." The ticket he subsequently issued was time-stamped at 11.01am.

The council told the Metro that it could take the circumstances into consideration, and urged Whitworth to get in contact.

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Odd parking tickets

Whitworth is not the first to have fallen victim to an over-zealous parking official. We have tracked down five of the oddest:

1. In February this year, a Bradford motorist was sent a fine, after a traffic camera photographed him stationary at a bus stop. It eventually agreed to cancel the fine after the photograph revealed he was stuck in a traffic jam at the time.

2 In 2012, traffic wardens ticketed a lifeboat in Appledore in Devon. It was on the back of a trailer, and was being taken to be decommissioned, when a crew member realised he had forgotten the paperwork he needed to take with him. When he returned with the papers, he found the boat with a £60 ticket. The council later cancelled the ticket.

3 In January 2012, Anthony Mottram, 51, of Wandsworth in London, was given a parking ticket after he stopped to give first aid to a motorcyclist who was trapped under his bike in the middle of the road. His car had been abandoned next to the accident, but the keen traffic warden didn't let this put him off.

4. In March this year, a motorist in Bristol was fined £70, after stopping his car for 90 seconds to check a sign displaying the parking regulations. The letter arrived in the post, along with a photo in which he could clearly be seen by the car, reading the sign. The council decided to drop the fine.

5. Finally, a 71-year old from Caerphilly was fined £200, for overstaying the 90 minute limit at his local McDonald's car park. He had gone for breakfast at 5am, and had dozed off after eating his Happy Meal. He woke over an hour later, and received the fine through the post days later. After hitting the headlines, McDonald's agreed to drop the fine.


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