The Swindon family of a grandmother who was issued a parking ticket on the day of her death have been reimbursed the fee by the council.

Helen Thompson was a long-time volunteer at the Survivor charity shop in Swindon town centre.

Due to suffering a heart attack on Friday, November 11, 2022, Mrs Thompson collapsed and later died in the shop, leaving her possessions behind including her car which was parked on Sanford Street.

This car was issued a parking ticket, which the council insisted must be paid, despite the protests of Mrs Thompson’s family.

Her son, who asked to remain anonymous, paid the £25 parking ticket out of frustration.

Swindon Advertiser: Mrs Thompson died while volunteering in November of 2022.Mrs Thompson died while volunteering in November of 2022. (Image: Helen Thompson)

“I didn’t feel I had to pay it because of the circumstances, but I did not need the extra hassle after I had just lost my mum,” he said.

Since the Adver reported on the matter earlier this month, all has been resolved between the council and the family.

“It’s been resolved, they managed to locate the second email with the death certificate and V5 so after everything that went on they cancelled the parking fine and apologised for the issues I had,” said Mrs Thompson’s son.

“I’m glad it’s resolved it’s just a shame it went this far, but thanks again to the Swindon Advertiser for highlighting the issue and hopefully the council will look at their policy on when someone passes away suddenly.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesperson said: “We’re really pleased we were able to resolve this issue for Mrs Thompson’s son.

"We appreciate this took longer than he would have liked and would like to apologise for the delay in processing his refund.

Swindon Advertiser: Mrs Thompson had parked her car so that she could volunteer at the Survivor charity shop in Swindon.Mrs Thompson had parked her car so that she could volunteer at the Survivor charity shop in Swindon. (Image: Newsquest)

“After doing some further investigation we did manage to track down the documentation that he sent in to us, so this delay is entirely down to an admin error on our side rather than an issue with our policy.

“It is standard practice to ask for the appropriate documentation in cases like this as we receive many requests to cancel or refund parking tickets.”

It has been decided by the family that the reimbursed fee should be donated to charity given Mrs Thompson’s charitable efforts in her lifetime.

“I have donate the money to British Heart Foundation and all of my mother’s furniture, clothes all went to charity,” said her son.

“On the day of the funeral my mother wanted donations instead of flowers so £150 from that also went to the British Heart Foundation.”