Shropshire man gets £100 car parking fine . . . for being 88 seconds late

Ron Lucas, of Moss Lane in Betton, near Market Drayton, was shocked to receive the fine after visiting the town's Post Office in High Street and using its car park.

He said: "There was a queue in the Post Office, we had a friendly word with the owner's daughter and unfortunately we overstayed our welcome by 88 seconds, but thought nothing of it until we received a parking charge notice."

The car park, which is managed by Creative Car Parking Solutions, uses a system where drivers must pay using a debit or credit card over the phone. Charges begin at 40p for one hour, although they do not come into place until 10 minutes after a car has entered the car park.

The fine, issued by Civil Enforcement Ltd, showed Mr Lucas entered the car park at 2.14pm on November 10 and left at 2.25pm, putting him just inside the charging period.

Mr Lucas wrote to the company in the hope that the charge would be cancelled.

The company refused, and Mr Lucas decided to pay the fine which was reduced to £60 as he settled within 14 days.

He said: "At a time when town centre traders are doing all they can to encourage shoppers to come to the town, it seems inconceivable that the owner of the Post Office would victimise his customers in this manner."

Town councillors have also raised concerns about the problems, with many residents not able to pay the initial fee because of poor mobile phone signal, or not having a mobile phone at all.

Saiqa Shah, manager of the Post Office, said: "We understand that people are coming in to complain, but unfortunately we can't help because we have no responsibility for the car park any more, it is managed by Creative Car Parking Solutions.

"There are signs everywhere and the machines are covered up so people know they have to pay over the phone.

"No signal is of course a valid point, but this needs to be taken up with the car park company."

No-one from Creative Car Parking Solutions was available to comment.