'I'm being banned from parking in my own drive': Woman says she is willing to go to JAIL over 'utterly ridiculous' parking war with council

A woman being taken to court by the council for parking vehicles in her own drive has said she is willing to go to jail over the row.

Jenny Cummings has been ordered to move cars and a pick-up truck that her family uses to run a nearby vehicle recovery business after Newport County Council claimed they were operating the company from home.

The 44-year-old was first sent an enforcement notice in summer 2022 but family health issues meant she failed to respond in time.

Now the mother-of-two is set to appear in court this month and has branded the threat 'utterly ridiculous' and a waste of council tax payers' money.

Ms Cummings told MailOnline she would rather go to prison than comply.

'When we first moved three years ago we wanted to renovate and put an extension in,' she said. 'We had planning, health and safety officers out and it was all fine. 

'We had problems with our neighbours, who have reported us to the council.

'Now the council says they think we are running a business from our home, which is just not true. 

'They have no evidence of this and I hope the court will throw the notice out. 

'We have tried to explain to the council that we aren't running a business from our home and just park the vehicles here sometimes. Does a plumber not take his car home if he gets an emergency job?

'I'm going to fight this all the way and if that means I end up in jail, so be it.'

The mother said her husband David, 46, and son Kian, 21, 'occasionally' use the driveway outside the home they bought three years ago to park vehicles associated with the business they run nearby.

She said: 'Sometimes they might get a call after midnight to collect a vehicle and, if they get home at three in the morning, they'll come straight back here with the truck rather than drop it off at the unit because they need to get to bed.

'But that only happens occasionally - less than once a week.'

An enforcement notice was first delivered to Ms Cummings's farmhouse home in St Brides Wentlooge, near Newport, south Wales, two years ago.

She said she failed to respond as her father was in hospital for colon cancer surgery and her grandson had been born with a significant brain injury following a complicated forceps delivery.

Ms Cummings added: 'I admit that there was so much going on in my personal life at that time that I took my eye off the ball and failed to respond quickly enough to the council action.

'With all that in my life, I just didn't have the headspace to worry about a complaint over vehicles parked in my own driveway. I just assumed it would go away.'

She said her family had also been told to remove a set of small floodlights, which light an orchard, but that taking down the lights would be 'stupid' and could result in people tripping on fallen apples in the dark.

Ms Cummings has also been ordered to take down a single CCTV camera, which she installed after her home was vandalised, and a small storage cabin. 

The council also told them to move an unused children's swing to another area of the property.

She said: 'We don't believe we are doing anything wrong. We aren't running a business, the camera is there for protection, that cabin is tucked away in a corner and not harming anyone. 

'We think it's stupid to take the floodlights down.'

She added that large vehicles passing her house were more disruptive than what her family was doing.

'On this road, you've got these trucks taking rubbish down to recycling from 6am and our house shakes because of it but we are used to it. 

'The sound our vehicles make is the exact same as a car would be.

'We already have noise in this area and we are not contributing to it. It's already here. 

'I have spoken to other neighbours in our area and they have no problem with anything we are doing.

'It's ridiculous. We are not disrupting neighbours. We have hectic lives. We are in bed at 8pm.'

Ms Cummings said she had requested mediation on several occasions to stop them being reported to the council but nothing had happened. 

She added that the past few years had impacted her mentally and physically.

'I've lost loads of weight, I'm back and forth to the doctor with stomach problems. 

'I asked if it could be stress and they said it could be. My husband is the same.

'We have sleepless nights about it. It's just constant. We've got other things in our lives that are more important. We have family members who are ill.'