A volunteer dropping off donations for Ukraine to the Lewisham Polish Centre is angry after having been issued a parking fine by Transport for London.

Gemma Pengilley said that herself and five other volunteers started being issued with parking fines approximately a week after they had helped out on March 8 and 9.

Responding to a call-out on social media for volunteers, Gemma arrived at the donation centre with medical supplies before agreeing to help move heavy boxes full of essential items in her car.

This Is Local London:

She said that due to Forest Hill’s Lewisham Polish Centre being located on the South Circular, securing a parking spot was difficult.

Gemma also explained that due to boxes being packed full of essential items for Ukrainians fleeing their country amid Russia’s invasion, packages couldn’t be carried long distances as they were too heavy.

To make drops quickly, Gemma and others parked outside the centre on a single red line.

She told the News Shopper: “A number of members of the public were dropping things and there was nowhere to park within the centre.

“Without much else to do with very heavy things, people were parking on the single line on the red route to drop as quickly as they could and then move on.

“Obviously it’s a very difficult place to stop because it’s right on the South Circular, but it really wasn’t an option to drive to somewhere that wasn't and drop because the boxes were so heavy.”

Sharing her movements on Thursday, March 3 and Friday, March 4, Gemma explained she had walked to the Lewisham Polish Centre after seeing a call-out for volunteers on social media.

Although she didn’t have her car with her at first, it soon became clear that the centre needed help moving boxes to the Labour party’s nearby office on Sunderland Road for storage.

Gemma then went to get her car and started making drops in the local area.

She explained: “Around March 3 and 4 the Lewisham Polish Centre had reached out via social media to ask for as many volunteers as possible to either donate a number of essential items to go to Ukraine and also to help with driving.

“They were massively inundated with donations.

This Is Local London:

“I turned up on Friday with some medical supplies and nappies and things like that and the carpool outside the centre was absolutely full of volunteers and boxes and people sorting all of the aid that people had dropped off.

“At that time I didn’t have my car, but I was helping out the front and I could see a lot of people dropping off.

“They really needed people to use their cars to move the boxes around the corner.

“They were asking people to help do that.

“So I went home and got the car and drove back around and did a couple of jobs back and forth to the site.

“A guy then wanted to get some boxes that he had in Deptford.

“He asked me to drive him to Deptford to pick up some cardboard boxes, so I did that, brought them back, dropped them off.

“I was back and forth as were lots of people that day, dropping things, loading, unloading.”

Early next week, Gemma said she and others started receiving penalties.

This Is Local London:

 

Gemma added: “We’re on a WhatsApp group for volunteers and a number of us were saying ‘I’ve just received a PCN and what do we do about it?’ “The volunteers trying to manage the centre were like ‘oh my god, we’re so sorry’ and of course, it’s not their problem at all, we’re just so disappointed that it’s happened.”

After hearing that volunteers had started being fined by TfL, Gemma said that Ellie Reeves, Labour MP for Lewisham West & Penge, personally sought to have her and other’s fines waived.

Gemma said she and other volunteers were told they will be given an update when Reeves hears more.

The volunteers have also requested on TfL’s website that their fines are waived, however Gemma notes this process may take weeks.

Gemma said herself and other volunteers have even agreed to contribute some of their fine money as financial donations to Ukraine.

Gemma said: “It's a real shame because it was very obviously dropping and moving on, none of us were there for longer than five or ten minutes.

“We all felt very strongly that we’d be happy to donate some of the money.”

The News Shopper has approached TfL for comment.

Ellie Reeves told News Shopper: "TfL would usually respond to an MPs enquiry with 20 working days. 

"We would not expect a formal reply for another three weeks."

Have you got a story for us? You can contact us here.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

Sign up to our newsletters to get updates sent straight to your inbox.