Plaque marks spot where newlyweds met in multi-storey car park (From Durham Times)

Plaque marks spot where newlyweds met in multi-storey car park

10:33am Friday 27th July 2012 in News By Tony Kearney

A NEWLYWED bride surprised her husband by unveiling a plaque on the spot in a car park where they met.

Karen Crosby arranged a permanent reminder of the moment that love blossomed in a multi-storey car park in Durham City.

The couple were introduced through an online dating website in December 2010 and arranged to meet at a coffee shop in the city the following month. However, both took a wrong turn as they arrived in the Prince Bishops Shopping Centre car park and ended up in the service yard.

They soon realised that they had inadvertently bumped into each other.

Six days later, Steve, a 47- year-old arts lecturer at Gateshead College, proposed to yoga instructor Karen, 50.

The couple, who now live in Stockton, married at Wynyard Hall, near Stockton, on June 27 and have just returned from honeymoon in New York and Toronto.

The plaque, on level three, which was a wedding gift on behalf of the shopping centre, reads: “Here is the place where Karen found her beloved Steve, her soulmate and the love of her life, on Sunday 9th Jan 2011”.

Mrs Crosby said: “I have been planning the unveiling of the plaque for some months now, so I cannot believe the day has finally arrived.

“I was so nervous he would come in on level three and see it before it was actually revealed, but it was all worth it to see his face – he looked genuinely surprised.”

Mr Crosby said: “The plaque is amazing. I’m completely overwhelmed – it has been such a lovely surprise.

“People always comment on the circumstances around the way Karen and I met, so it does seem fitting to honour the car park in such a way.”

Shopping centre manager Richard Toynbee said: “It is such a romantic gesture. I’m sure it will be a talking point among shoppers in Durham for years to come.”