To pay his parking ticket

[ONONARISTON]

I had an electrician in today. I was upstairs putting my baby down for a nap, so my mum (who is visiting) let him in and told him where to go etc.

Electrician asked to park in the driveway but my mum was in there already, so she apparently said 'just park across the driveway, it's fine, I always do'. This was on a yellow line! good one mum

So obviously he was ticketed and furious. Wants me to pay his fine. I feel bad as he's basically lost most of his earnings for the job and my mum told him it was ok but a) there should have been enough free parking further up the street and he wasn't bringing heavy equipment so didn't need to be right outside and b) surely it is his job to check parking?

Should I just offer to pay to ease my conscience?

[WhatToDoAboutThis2017]

Brandbrandbrandy Oh ha ha Fair enough!

[RainbowPastel]

Yes in this situation I would pay. Your DM is a bit daft though telling him that.

[confusedlittleone]

Him and your mother clearly need to brush up on their road rules

[TheMaddHugger]

Umm, He shouldn't be parking over a yellow line at all.

[OssomMummy1]

If you or your mother don't know, then you say, "I don't know". You have misguided him here and most of his daily earning has gone now. If I were you, to overcome that guilt of misguiding him, I would pay out. Just put yourself in his position and think.

[justilou1]

Let's be honest here. He's been driving for a while now. Everyone knows what yellow lines mean. He chose to ignore that. His problem.

[MsHopey]

It sucks but ultimately the driver is responsible for their actions. If someone told me it was okay to park on double yellows, I still wouldn't. 6 years of driving and I always park correctly, pay the machines for tickets, only park for allowed amount of time, etc.
It might sound like a completely different scenario, but if your at a junction and someone flashes their lights at you to go out, but your not sure it's safe, you don't pull out, because as the driver you are responsible. In an accident you couldn't say "someone else said it was safe so I blindly followed them". People just don't use their own initiative sometimes and I wouldn't pay.

[Brandbrandbrandy]

WhatToDoAboutThis2017

I was agreeing with you! I meant what a silly thing for the OP’s mother to say!

[Gaudeamus]

If you reverse the scenario and imagine you had driven to someone's house and parked illegally and been ticketed - would you demand they pay your fine? I wouldn't! I'd be embarrassed and call myself a fool.

In any case, it has nothing to do with you - you didn't do the parking or the telling to park. Don't take the blame for his mistake!

[BrokenBattleDroid]

I'd pay in that scenario but would also drop it into conversation with my mum that I'd had to pay the electricians parking fine. Make sure that doesn't happen again!

[kmc1111]

I'd pay. Your mum really should have moved for him since often electricians have to keep going back and forth to get things (so parking down the road is a time wasting nuisance).

He obviously shouldn't have parked on yellows, but your mother really shouldn't have told him it was fine either. There are loads of streets where parking wardens literally haven't been by at all for years and years, so if you say something like that people will think it's a really, really, really small risk and not that you're actually saying 'I've always gotten lucky despite the warden coming by daily'.

[Migraleve]

Why did your mum park there knowing the electrician would need parking and access? Seems a bit daft, I always move my car off my drive for tradesman arriving.

He is technically responsible but if she said park there it's fine then he is going to assume it's fine. I would probably offer half tbh, mainly because it's your and our mums fault he didn't have access to parking.

[WhatToDoAboutThis2017]

Brandbrandbrandy Why? She's the one who told him where to park, not OP.

[Brandbrandbrandy]

I think your Mum should pay. What a silly thing to say!

[WhatToDoAboutThis2017]

You shouldn't pay, but your mum should.

[ButDoYouAvocado]

I have to drive and park up for my job. People often say things like 'oh just park there, i always do', or 'dont worry we never get traffic wardens round here'. I don't. I know what a yellow line is ffs.

Its his responsibility.

[givemesteel]

Given your mum said something very silly I would pay. Plus also you should have taken responsibility for there being a space on your drive, either you or your mum should have moved your car to the further away space.

Don't forget the agency will take a cut of his fee so he may actually lose money for taking the job.

Pay it and put it down to life experience.

[SD1978]

I would pay. Whilst he didn’t have to take your mothers suggestion, the implication was that it would be ok as she did it regularly. The company underqioyed the time the job would take and he is already losing income form the time he spent doing the job. I would pay the fine as I’d feel bad that the company had lost him money, and so had my mother. Legally, you have no responsibility, just because someone told him something illegal was ok, doesn’t mean it is, but my natural guilt would win out!

[stoplickingthetelly]

I think you, or more accurately, your mum should pay.

[Be3Al2Si6O18]

Morally, I would pay all.

[RaininSummer]

He was a bit of a plank parking on yellows. I dont think it us your responsibility.

[FlowerPot1234]

It would morally be the right thing to do - at least half. Your mother shouldn't have told him it was fine to park there, he shouldn't have taken her word.

[GreatDuckCookery6211]

It’s his responsibility to park legally. Just because your mum said it was ok isn’t a good enough reason for him to have done it!

[IslingtonLou]

I’d offer at least half as your mother explicitly told him to park there so I feel bad for him - he would have taken her word that it’s a safe/legal parking spot.

[user1493413286]

I’d offer to pay half; I go to peoples houses for my job and even if someone said that I wouldn’t take the chance but also wasn’t great of your mum to say it