Commuters using Leasowe Station slam traffic wardens

Feb 3 2010 by Lorna Hughes, Wallasey News

COMMUTERS using Leasowe Station have slammed traffic wardens who ticketed their cars even though faded markings were due to be re-painted.

Drivers stepped off the train from Liverpool last Thursday to find a whole row of cars in the station car park slapped with £60 fines for parking outside marked bays.

They have complained that markings are unclear at Leasowe Station and drivers simply lined up assuming they were parking in the right place.

After Wirral News took their concerns to Merseyrail, spokesman Rudi Boersma said parking regulations were enforced in station car parks to ensure access was maintained.

But he said the train operator had looked again at Leasowe Station’s car park after being contacted by the News and agreed the markings around parking bays were unclear.

They were due to be re-lined at the start of this year but snow and ice prevented the work from taking place.

Monica Dougherty, 33, of Moreton, was making her way to Liverpool for her social work studies at John Moores University.

She said: “It was the social injustice aspect of it. If we’d done wrong you could understand but the markings weren’t there.”

Ken Mawson, of Moreton, parked in the car park before catching a train to work.

He said: “There were no markings to show we couldn’t park. I got there about 11.20 and there were about ten cars in the row already so I parked at the end.

“When I got back and saw the ticket I thought it was a joke.”

Mr Boersma said: “The lines are faded. It is down for re-lining but the problem has been the snow and ice.

“It’s top of the list and as soon as conditions allow we will get in there and re-mark.

“If people feel that they have been given a ticket unfairly they can, of course, appeal to us.”