By STEVE DOUGHTY and COLIN FERNANDEZ
Last updated at 8:21 AM on 26th April 2011
Unfair: Personal trainer Zbigniew, who charges clients around £45 an hour, said he was confronted by a park warden
Personal trainers, nannies, dog walkers and even teachers face hefty bills for using public parks under a town hall diktat.
Council chiefs have decided anyone using the open spaces for business must pay for the privilege.
Personal trainers, like Zibby Mucha, and football coaches have already been hit by the policy, devised by a West London authority. And it is likely to be copied by other councils.
The rules say that if anyone is making money by being in a park, they will be billed. That means that a paid nanny pushing a pram, a paid dog walker, or a nursery school teacher leading her charges through the local park could face bills of £350-£1,200 a year.
Mr Mucha, 35, who works in Hurlingham Park in Putney, South London, was exercising with a client when a park ranger told him he couldn’t operate without filling in a form.
Mr Mucha, who charges clients around £45 an hour, said the warden ‘asked if I had got the licence to be in the park’.
‘I was surprised and didn’t know what she was asking for. I rang the council and they told me it was £350 for 12 months.’
He added: ‘What I am doing is good for society and helps get people more healthy, but the council is trying to sabotage this.
‘What if I go for a run around the park with a client, are they going to chase us?’
Another personal trainer, Dave Smith, 48, of Stoke Newington, North London, said the cost of the charges would force him out of business.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380485/Fitness-trainers-nannies-teachers-hit-350-council-fees-run-park.html#ixzz1Kmu512Rz
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