A man who paid to park for three hours was fined after being told his ticket was only valid for seven minutes .
Doug Forbes was visiting Gloucester when he was stung by the confusing system.
The motorist, who is from Coventry, visited the Quays on March 2 and parked at the Southgate Moorings car park, GloucestershireLive report.
He paid £2.50 which is the rate for a parking ticket valid for up to three hours and went to have a meal at Bill's.
But on his return around an hour and a half later, he found he had been issued with a parking charge notice.
He had bought his parking ticket at 5.54pm and despite paying for three hours, the ticket he received was only valid until 6.01pm.
He is not the first to have fallen foul of the car park's overnight charge.
Mr Forbes said: “We visited Cheltenham and then Gloucester. We looked at the sign and put the money in. The sign said it was £2.50 for three hours.
"We knew it would be cheaper if we waited but we thought we weren't going to sit around and get the cheap rate. So we just put £2.50 in the machine.
“Then the ticket said it had 6.01pm on it and I thought, that must be a mistake as I’ve just paid for three hours. I didn’t think anything of it.
"We went for a meal at Bill’s and then came back about an hour and a half later to find we had got a ticket. Then, I thought I’ll appeal but they rejected it.
“I actually overpaid for parking. I booked for three hours. If I had waited five minutes it would have been £1.50 for the whole night until 7am in the morning. So, I overpaid and I got fined.”
Gloucester City Council has not responded to requests for comment.
Previously, a spokesperson for Gloucester City Council said: “Southgate Moorings Car Park operates two tariffs, a daytime rate until 6pm and an evening rate from 6pm until 7am. Customers can pay for both the daytime and evening rate at the same time at the machine if they intend to stay beyond 6pm.
"The ‘Just Park’ app allows customers to pay for the daytime and evening rate in one transaction for their stay.”
