A DAD who was given a parking ticket while volunteering for a charity shop has called for free parking in the town centre.

Andy Gerrish, 50, was fined by a private firm when he ran 16 minutes overtime while parked at Aldi, off Queen Victoria Street.

The building surveyor, who lives with wife Andrea in Kermincham, near Lower Withington, was helping paint and decorate the nearby Macclesfield Society for the Blind shop, and returned to find a ticket on his bonnet.

He admits he was late back, but says the problem spreads across all car parks in town, and he won’t be coming into Macclesfield anymore.

Andy has called on Cheshire East Council to call off its army of wardens because it is "killing" trade.

He said: "Macclesfield’s a lovely little town, with good restaurants and shops, and we love Arighi Bianchi. We take our dogs to the vet here.

"But the strict parking is killing Macclesfield. The town centre will lose business as a result. I’m going to stop volunteering for the eye society, because there is nowhere for me to park."

Glynis Fitzgerald, manager at Macclesfield Society for the Blind, on Queen Victoria Street, said: "When our volunteers go out into town they have to be very careful. We phoned the council for permission for our volunteers to park outside the shop, but you need two weeks’ notice.

"It’s not always easy to give that if people are coming in in their own time."

A spokesman for company ParkingEye, who enforce parking at Aldi, said: "Aldi allows all manner of volunteer groups to use their car park for one-off events. There is also an appeal process that Mr Gerrish can go through."

For more information about donating to, or volunteering at Macclesfield Society for the Blind, call them on 01625 422602, or email: info@vision15.co.uk.

Andy's letter to parking firm:

SIRS – I am in receipt of your parking charge notice and I duly enclose payment for £40 as demanded by you.

You can congratulate yourselves on a job well done in this instance. I was using my wife’s car on this particular day, unloading painting materials and tools from the car and taking them to the Macclesfield Blind Society office opposite, where I am doing voluntary work at present.

I was not an Aldi customer for the whole of the period parked in their car park and I should have used the public car park 800 yards away down a steep hill if I wanted to unload my car. I apologise for being so thoughtless, and to overstay my welcome by 16 minutes in a car park down to its last ten spaces is inexcusable.

Unfortunately, as a result of this stupidity on my part, I have had to explain to the Blind Society that I can no longer continue volunteering for them because I can’t afford it anymore.

Thank you again for pointing out how inconsiderate I was for parking in this car park, and don’t be worrying about the Blind Society either because being a charity serving blind and partially sighted people, they’ve got all the money and staff that they could ever possibly want, and they certainly don’t need me to help them.

I would respectfully request though, that you present the enclosed cheque to your bank as soon as possible, because funding will need to be released to the council, who themselves need to generate funds on the back of some rather dodgy investments.

They also need to subsidise Government who, in turn, have MPs’ expenses to worry about, where there is currently some minor financial embarrassment and a general lack of funds for refurbishment of second homes.

You will not need reminding I’m sure, that we are in a recession.

Thank you in anticipation of your assistance and for making this country such a wonderful place to live in.

Yours faithfully

Mr A S Gerrish