![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/geoffparking-640x381.jpg\" "\\"geoffparking\\"")
Geoff received a \u00a3100 fine for parking while litter picking in the car park<\/p>\nGeoff received a \u00a3100 fine for parking while litter picking in the car park<\/p>\n
A Thanet litter pick volunteer has been slapped with \u00a0a \u00a3100 fine for being parked at the Cliftonville Lido while clearing up the rubbish strewn across the car park.<\/p>\n
Geoff Hickie, from Ramsgate, is a prolific litter picker, giving thousands of hours of unpaid service to the community.<\/p>\n
He says he had parked his Renault at the Parking Eye managed site for 19 minutes on May 16 while he cleared the trash from the site.<\/p>\n
Days later he received the parking penalty.<\/p>\n
Cliftonville East councillors Barry Manners and Marc Rattigan say they are now trying to get the fine cancelled but have also set up a fundraiser in a bid to get it paid, if needed, without hitting Geoff in the pocket. They have kicked off efforts with a \u00a325 donation each.<\/p>\n
They say Geoff was \u201creally upset and left disheartened\u201d to receive the fine. Below photos show the car park site before and after Geoff\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
A furious Cllr Manners has written to Parking Eye, saying: \u201cI am a local ward councillor in Margate. The driver of this vehicle is well known in the community as he devotes around 20 hours a week as a volunteer litter picker. He works alone, often with a dog.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was cleaning along the coast on this instance \u2013 and in particular cleaning litter that was strewn across the Lido Car Park. A responsible landowner would clear the litter themselves. The fact that they fail to do so and a member of the public is now being penalised for their civic responsibility on clearing up the landowner\u2019s mess deserves scrutiny.<\/p>\n
\u201cI urge you to cancel the penalty, apologise to the driver and to make an effort to clear the litter on your land that blights the seafront.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cllr Manners added: \u201cI have known Geoff for seven years since moving here. He\u2019s a local legend \u2013 out in all weathers, often with his dog, picking up litter. He has done more than almost anyone to keep our streets and coastline litter free.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fine for parking just so he could clear the inexcusable litter at the Lido car park is a massive blow to him. I want the fine cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile let\u2019s chip in so he doesn\u2019t have to worry about it, with a few quid for a well earned drink in return for his thousands of hours of unpaid service to the community in Thanet. Well done to Cllr Marc Rattigan for setting up the GoFundMe. I hope everyone who appreciates clean streets and beaches can chip in a pound or two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parking Eye has been contacted for a response.<\/p>\n
The two main Lido plots \u2013 excluding the snooker club area-\u00a0 \u00a0were bought by Waterfront Holdings Limited in December 2024 for \u00a3182,897.<\/p>\n
The sole director of Waterfront Holdings is Margate FC chairman Ricky Owen. A charge is registered against the company\u2019s property with Evgueni Dogot as the \u2018entitled person.\u2019 Mr Dogot is also one of Margate FC\u2019s principal owners and shareholders.<\/p>\n
It had formerly been owned by company Stour Side Developments and Stour Side Investments which bought the two plots at, including the car park, for \u00a3699,999 in 2014.<\/p>\n
In 2017 the company went into administration and remained so for a whopping seven years until creditors voluntary liquidation was enacted in 2024 and the site was sold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geoff received a \u00a3100 fine for parking while litter picking in the car park A Thanet litter pick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-608735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}