A kind stranger has stepped in to pay a £70 parking fine which was handed to a gardener after he was caught parking on a double yellow line.
Jan Goodey, who lives in Brighton, was fined £35 for parking his van on Goodwood Way, near to Hodshrove Woods, on the morning of February 14 during a charity project he said was partly funded by Brighton and Hove City Council.
Jan works for Brighton Permaculture Trust (BPT), a charity which runs community planting projects across Sussex.
He was managing a group of ten volunteers planting a ten-tree apple orchard near the woods when he received the fine.
Jan Goodey was planting an orchard when he was fined (Image: The Argus)
He described the incident as an example of “overzealous parking attendants”, but Brighton and Hove City Council stood by the fine, stating that it had been correctly issued.
The 60-year-old appealed the fine, but this was rejected and the charge doubled to £70.
Jan, who is on a “low wage,” said he was refusing to pay the fine “out of principle” and told The Argus the council would have to take his television.
After we reported on Jan’s predicament, a 51-year-old man from Cambridge came across the article and felt “touched” by it.
The man, who does not know Jan and has chosen to remain anonymous, said the father’s story “pulled at the heartstrings”.
“I was horrified to read in The Argus the article regarding Jan Goodey and the parking fine he had received,” he said.
“All he was doing was helping the community.”
He added: “I am remaining anonymous but I have paid the fine for Jan so it doesn’t spiral to a huge sum of money. All the best Jan and keep doing good for your community.”
It marks a second success for Jan who had a £400 fine revoked by the council last year after he left a bag of donations outside a charity shop.
Jan has said he is very grateful to the mystery donor.
“I’d like to thank this person unreservedly,” he said.
He described him as “a community-minded individual supporting a free food source which the residents of Moulsecoomb will have for decades”.
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