St Albans mum’s pantomime parking ticket woe is behind her

A mum-of-three got her fairytale ending thanks to this year’s St Albans pantomime cast who came to her aid after she received a parking ticket while taking her disabled son to the theatre.

Renata Blower’s afternoon at the pantomime with her seven-year-old son Dominic days before Christmas ended in misery when she left the Alban Arena to see a traffic warden writing her a parking ticket.

The 38-year-old, of Vesta Avenue, St Albans, was a few minutes late returning to her car than the designated three hours for blue badge holders as she had to wait for everyone to exit the venue before getting Dominic out.

But despite explaining this to the warden he would not budge and told her she would have to appeal.

Thankfully for Renata, this was not the end of the saga as the stars of Cinderella witnessed the incident and took to Twitter to express their outrage and call for the fine to be cancelled.

Dominic, who has an undiagnosed illness and has to be tube fed, has spent the last three months in Great Ormond Street Hospital but having been to the pantomime every year he was determined not to miss the performance.

Renata said: “It had been the only thing Dominic had managed to go to and it had been lovely and he had got to see all his friends.

“His only Christmas treat had been ruined by this traffic warden.”

Still upset from the afternoon’s events, she had her spirits lifted when she found out about the actors’ social media campaign, which they had started on her behalf.

And things were about to get even better when a few days later news came that St Albans district council had decided to waive the parking ticket.

Renata continued: “You have lots of battles to get through with a disabled child. Normally you do it alone with no support at all and it is just so touching to have so many people upset and concerned about us and doing everything they can to make the situation better.

“And then the icing on the cake was that the council backed down and cancelled the ticket. It was a proper panto fairytale ending.”

Tomorrow she will have the chance to express her gratitude to the cast in person when Dominic is being treated to a special backstage tour.

Bob Golding, who plays Buttons in the show, said: “Renata should be able to park wherever she wants as long as she is not blocking the road.

“As far as I am concerned they [traffic wardens] are the real panto baddies and I will continue to boo them.”

He added: “I would have been very surprised and upset if nothing had been done about it. It just goes to show some rules can be broken.

“There is a degree of humanity that must be remembered especially when it comes to Christmas time.”

To read Renata’s blog about life with a disabled child visit www.justbringthechocolate.com