Knight in shining armour saved me

I’m 37 weeks pregnant and had to go up to the hospital unexpectedly for some blood tests. I grabbed my purse as I left home, not realising I only had my credit card in there, and off I went.

An hour, and some bloods and foetal heart monitoring later, I was free to go and came up to Level 3 to pay for my parking. The parking machine did not accept cards (fair enough) but the cash machine was out of order too. A sign was on the cash machine directing customers to the Mr Bean Coffee Shop where cashback was available (for purchases only over £5, of course).

So, I grabbed a sandwich, drink and a cake (all unwanted) and went to pay for my ‘goods’ which came to £6. I asked for £5 cashback to pay for the parking and was informed cashback was only available at £20 plus.

Naturally I had no other option than to agree to this, when I was informed that as I was paying by credit card, cashback was unavailable. When I queried where I should get some cash for parking, the shop attendant couldn’t help me. I asked if I had to leave my car there in a pay per hour car park as I only had my credit card and the attendant said ‘yes.’

At this point (and before I got really wound up) the aforementioned ‘knight in shining armour’ stepped in and gave me £3 for the parking. I offered to take his number to return the money but he would have none of it.

Thank you so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness, you got a very pregnant lady out of a very frustrating situation.

To the Conquest - organise your resources and staff a little better please, it is ridiculous that people are unable to pay for their parking and the only advice given to them is to leave their vehicles until they can return with cash (especially when that person is clearly heavily pregnant).

ZOLA THOMAS

St Helen’s Down, Hastings