A driver was astonished to be fined for eating a McDonald's meal while parked in a Starbucks car park.
Bob Spink was hit with a letter at his home which said he had been fined £100 for his use of a parking bay outside the the coffee chain.
He visited McDonald's with his girlfriend and, when they could not find a parking space at the burger chain, they decided instead to use one of the nearby bays outside Starbucks where they parked for a "mere" 16 minutes.
WalesOnline reports Bob posted details of his fine on social media saying he "had not realised these penalties were a thing" and was shocked when others mentioned similar experiences.
Now the 50-year-old from Bath has vowed to "not go anywhere near a Starbucks ever again" after receiving the letter at his address near Swansea, Wales.
"We had only bought a £12 order from McDonald's and the car park was entirely full so we parked in Starbucks to eat as there was plenty of space," he said.
"It just feels like legalised theft, I haven't done anything wrong legally."
The letter he received told him that if he paid the fine within 14 days it would be reduced to £60, so he did so to avoid the bigger charge.
"I was baffled by it, we have just moved here and it's something you can't ignore as it only gets worse and increases the fee. I shared it in the hope of making people aware and steer clear of the chain," he said.
"We hadn't even left the car, the premise of a car park is to invite people in and it just feels like a con and I don't understand what they are trying to achieve and it doesn't look great for the chain to use a parking enforcement with such tactics," he added.
People commenting on his shared image of the parking offence also told of similar stories with some arguing "it's shocking they are allowed to do this", while others said it was a "lesson learnt the hard way" and conceded to paying their own fines.
Starbucks uses National Parking Enforcement LTD at its branch located in Fabian Way.
The parking company is criticised in reviews on Google as a "horrible company only looking to take innocent people's hard earned money". It has a one star rating.
Starbucks acknowledged that the parking offence notice was the responsibility of National Parking Enforcement Ltd and declined to comment further.
The Mirror has approached National Parking Enforcement Ltd for comment.
