Cat rescue volunteer given parking ticket as she attends injured animal

A volunteer from Kitty in the City, a Brighton-based charity, was unable to find a space and pulled up on double yellow lines by a “no loading” sign as they searched for a cat reported to have been hit by a car.

When the volunteer returned to her car she found a council parking warden writing up a parking ticket for the vehicle, which was parked on Hampton Road, Brighton.

The charity launched an appeal but this was rejected and the last resort is them now going before a tribunal to get the £30 parking fine overturned.

Stacey Phillips, one of the volunteers at Kitty in the City, said: “We didn’t know at the time how badly injured Bobby was and time was of the essence to get hold of this cat that could have disappeared into the streets or a closed school that we had no access to.

“We think it is pretty heartless of the council to uphold the fine just for a few minutes of checking to see if Bobby was around the next corner or within the school playground, especially as traffic was not being obstructed in any way.”

The 34-year-old added: “We have not paid it yet. It is valuable funds and we are trying to feed our cats and pay our vets’ bills.

“It just seems like such a waste of money when all we were trying to do is rescue this cat.

“We were only there a few minutes and were unlucky.”

The charity does have a permit for their vehicle, which allows them to park on double yellow lines.

The dispute has been rolling on since July and the charity says their appeals feel like “wastes of energy”.

A council spokesperson said: “The ticket was correctly issued as the vehicle was parked on a loading area, and the information sent did not merit a cancellation.

“However, after receiving further information about the incident, including a letter from the vets, we are happy to treat this as a special case and cancel the ticket.

“We are pleased to hear the cat is recovering well.”