A CARER was hit with a parking ticket in Welling while trying to rescue her disabled brother from being trapped under his wheelchair.

Terry Greig, 58, has spoken of her anger with Bexley parking contractors over the incident after rushing to help her 57-year-old brother Stephen Barthorpe who suffers from progressive multiple sclerosis.

The mother-of-one received a call to say Mr Barthorpe had fallen out of his heavy electric power chair at the home in Selwyn Crescent where he lives alone.

She jumped in the car and sped over from her home in Church Road, Bexleyheath, without giving much thought to how she had parked given it was 10.30pm and her brother was in danger.

But while she was desperately trying to get him out from underneath his weighty wheelchair, an NSL Services Group traffic warden was ticketing her for parking with one front wheel on a dropped kerb.

The office manager for a firm of solicitors told News Shopper: "It was pitch black but it’s a very quiet crescent and I was aware someone was by my car which was almost comical really.

"The warden was a really big guy and when I first saw him I thought he was the answer to my prayers - he looked ideal for the purposes of helping me lift up my brother.

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Mrs Greig with the offending front wheel. 

"I explained it was a dire emergency but when I asked him for help he was quite rude, looked me up and down and said ‘no’."

Mrs Greig says two night carers arrived at around 10.45pm and tried to reason with the warden but were told: "Tough luck - the wheel’s parked on the kerb."

She added: "I did manage to get the chair off him which was no mean feat given it weighs as much as a bloody tractor.

"I know traffic wardens have an unenviable job, but this made me incredibly angry because the circumstances were bad anyway and this guy just made them a whole heap worse."

Mrs Greig, who has helped with Mr Barthorpe’s round-the-clock care since her virtually bed-ridden brother was diagnosed in 2001, eventually managed to get him back into bed.

She paid the £55 fine by cheque but it was later returned to her with an apology from Bexley Council, who contract out their parking enforcement service to NSL.

A council spokeswoman said: "We are very sorry to hear of the circumstances that led to the issue of this Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

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Terry has helped care for her brother since 2001. 

"Having looked into them, we appreciate this incident was a genuine emergency and as such we withdrew the PCN and a letter of apology was sent to Mrs Greig."

A spokeswoman for NSL said wardens are not allowed to enter people’s homes, as this one was asked to, and at no point did Mrs Greig request help.

The spokeswoman added the warden, who is no longer employed by NSL, could not stop issuing a ticket simply because Mrs Greig’s door was open.

She said: “When the Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) arrived at the property, he saw the vehicle parked on the footway and this is what the ticket was issued for, not for a dropped kerb.

“The driver was not present and so the CEO proceeded to issue a ticket. Only after he had issued it did the driver appear.

“He he is bemused as to why she would make a complaint against him as there was no argument and the lady did not seem upset when he told her she could appeal.

“He denies being rude or dismissive.”