A carer is furious at a council’s refusal to cancel a parking fine she got while taking her mother-in-law to see a doctor.

Pauline Long found the penalty notice on her car windscreen while she was at a GP surgery in Pinner.

She had paid for a stay in a car park near Pinner Medical Centre in Love Lane, thinking she had ample time for her husband Steve’s 86-year-old mother to get treatment for a mysterious rash.

But, on arrival at the medical centre, Mrs Long and mother-in-law, Jean – who suffers from Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia – were taken to an isolation room to wait for a doctor.

Full-time teaching mentor Mrs Long, from South Ruislip, was eventually able to return to her car to buy more time, leaving her mother-in-law in the care of a nurse. Stuck to the windscreen was a £30 parking ticket.

Mrs Long, who asked for her address to be withheld, said: “When I saw the penalty charge notice I wasn’t concerned, because I just thought they will see sense, understand my situation and not make us pay.”

But Harrow Council refused to rescind the ticket later that day, despite her providing proof of her mother’s condition and showing the car park tickets she purchased before and after the fine was issued.

She said a council officer told her: “As the penalty charge notice was correctly issued there is no justifiable reason to cancel it.”

Mrs Long, who got the fine in July, said: “I do not know how they can make this decision. How can any sensible person expect me to make paying for parking the priority over my mother-in-law?

“It is hard being a carer, and things like this do not help.”

She paid the £30 fine to avoid the amount increasing after the quick-payment period.

Kenton East ward councillor Victoria Silver, who is a former young carer for her mother and is helping lead a project to improve services for carers in Harrow – Harrow Carer Champions – told the Observer this was not the first time this has happened in Harrow.

“One of the biggest concerns carers have is the way they are treated," she said. "The way carers providing 24/7 care are being overlooked is hitting them hard and has to change.

"More compassion must be brought to cases where carers are accompanying loved ones on vital health visits. The council must act, not just to preserve dignity, but to prevent other carers being pushed to breaking point.”

The leader of Harrow Council, Susan Hall, commented “We fully appreciate Mrs Long’s frustration over the fact the delay in returning to the car park wasn’t an intentional one.

“However, the parking attendant clearly could not have known the circumstances when he issued the ticket, which he did so quite lawfully.”

Harrow Council said Mrs Long can still appeal against the penalty notice.