A DRIVER was slapped with an £80 fine after he was mistakenly given a ticket valid for only seven minutes.
Doug Forbes, from Coventry, visited Gloucester on March 2 and paid £2.50 for a three-hour parking bay before going to lunch.
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But upon returning to his car half an hour later, Doug was shocked when he received a hefty PCN (Penalty Charge Notice), reported Gloucestershire Live.
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.
Doug 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’d just paid for three hours. I didn’t think anything of it.”
He added: “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.”
A spokesperson for the local authority previously 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.”
