A motorist has been left fuming after he was fined £60 for parking for eight minutes while he tried to pay. Ian Dykes says he was forced to find another car park after numerous attempts to pay failed.
Rather than risk a fine he headed off the East Street Car Park in Nottingham and went to an alternative. But days later he received the shock bill in the post.
And despite challenging the £60 fine he has been told he must pay up, reports Nottinghamshire Live. The whole incident has left the 63-year-old furious as he was only parking to carry out his job and will now have to fork out half a day's pay.
He told how he parked up after being sent to a nearby cinema to mend a machine. He said he tried to pay four separate times but every one simply looped back when he tried to put in his car registration number.
He finally gave up and moved to an alternative parking spot in a different car park. But despite being able to prove he was parked elsewhere quickly after leaving that car park he has been told he is still responsible for the eight minutes inside the first one.
He said: "I work for Dell as an engineer and I was heading for the NG1 to park. There's a cinema by the multi-storey car park and I had to go and do a job there to fix a machine.
"And there was a car park just close by and I used the number to ring to pay for the parking. So I rang it and put my registration number in, then they asked for it again so I put it in again - it asked my about four times for the number.
"It wouldn't accept payment so within the eight minutes I was there I thought it's pointless leaving it here, I'll go and park at the multi-storey car park, which I did. And then a week later I got a fine for £60 fine for trying to pay for parking!
"I appealed against it, showed them the ticket from the multi-storey car park with the difference of time which was eight minutes and they rejected it. They said you'll have to pay £60 which I think is disgusting to be honest."
He said he was unhappy with parking in the city centre as a whole. He said: "Everywhere you go in NG1 there's a problem with the parking - it's a nightmare trying to get close to the businesses where you're called to work. But I don't get it back, you see, I lose it out of my daily pay.
"That £60 comes out of my daily pay so that's like half my pay for the day. They said that the machine was working fine and it just wasn't, it was just looping all the time. It was just a nightmare.
"There was only enough space for not even 20 cars and there was just one space in there so I thought I'd park there because it was not even five minutes away from where I needed to be. I work in the Nottingham area five days a week for Dell, and I don't know the area very well because I've only lived here for five years, but if someone was to come into the city to do some shopping in the city centre, it's a nightmare to park."
Euro Car Parks have been approached for comment.
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