A fuming pensioner has vowed to fight a £100 penalty charge after twice paying for parking and still being hit with a £100 fine.
Anthony Birch, 80, had left his car in the Five Valleys multi-storey car park in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Before heading to the shops with wife Marie, he followed the instructions on the ticket machine and paid for the £1 ticket on his phone, he claimed.
Twenty minutes later, he was concerned the transaction had not worked and so returned and bought a ticket with cash and left it on his dashboard.
He later received a £100 in the post, Stroud News & Journal reported.
Mr Birch, a retired tax inspector, appealed the decision, but it was rejected.
He said: “I included a copy of my bank statement, showing that I had tried to pay, but they rejected the appeal.
“I genuinely thought I had done what I should, but I didn’t feel comfortable about it, so we went back and bought another ticket to make sure.
“I would never do the wrong thing by intention, and feel like companies like this need to have some compassion for people, particularly in these difficult days - it’s disgraceful.”
Tony Davey, chairperson of Stroud Chamber of Trade, encouraged anyone who believed their fine to be inaccurate to take it up with the car park operator.
Mr Birch had now taken his appeal further and gone to the parking ombudsman, POPLA, to fight his corner.
A spokesman for the Five Valleys Shopping Centre said: “We work with an automatic number plate recognition company specialising in car park management up and down the country ensuring an easy-to-use payment system is in place where people can use cash, card or a mobile phone app to make payment by entering their full correct registration details within 20 minutes of entering the car park.
“If customers feel they have received a parking fine unfairly we would urge them to contact parking@fivevalleysstroud.co.uk with their PCN number so we can look into this further.
“Similarly, if customers are worried that they may be issued with a fine due to overstaying, experiencing issues with the machines or being delayed on exit we are also happy to discuss to try and help prevent a fine being issued."
Earlier this month, a disabled man was given a parking fine despite claiming he was penalised for not being able to return to his car, and said bailiffs banged on his door at 7am demanding money.
Ian Richards, 57, claimed he made a genuine mistake by parking in a space that became a taxi rank after a certain time in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
He appealed against the initial £60 fine, issued in November 2021, but the council rejected it.
