NEXT-door neighbours discovered they shared more than a postcode when they received identical parking penalties, despite having paid to leave their cars.

In two separate incidents, Swindon residents Gill Ackling and Corinna Holmes were served with £85 fines for overstaying a three-hour maximum parking period at the Morrisons car park, in Regent Circus.

Gill was hit with an £85 notice on May 17, which was later retracted as a gesture of goodwill.

However, one month later, good friend Corinna received her penalty for a Saturday night stay in the supermarket car park on June 13.

And the similarities didn’t stop there. The neighbours soon realised each had stayed and paid for four hours, both visited the Coal restaurant and both admitted they failed to see three-hour maximum stay signs in the car park.

Both women also launched unsuccessful appeals to Euro Car Parks, which operates the space on behalf of WM Morrisons.

Corinna had been enjoying a family night out at the cinema when she was issued with the penalty. Like Gill, she had initially paid for two hours of parking, which was topped up twice during her four hour stay there.

She said: “It was a family night out for us. We paid for a couple of hours of parking, shopped in Morrisons then went to see Jurassic World with the kids.

"We then went to get something to eat, but each time we were responsible and made sure we topped the car up.

“The notice ruined a family evening and it was certainly an expensive night out. We were supporting a local business and the fine shouldn’t have been that much.”

Corinna said the hefty fine was not justified compared to the cost of parking.

“What I dislike is paying money to park and then being given a notice. They didn’t lose £85 from us parking in an empty car park. It shouldn’t be as much as that," she said.

“I don’t see what the problem was with parking somewhere when the shop is shut and you pay the full amount. Also £85 is extortionate because they have not lost that amount of money through two hours of parking.”

A spokesman for Morrisons said the second ticket had not been refunded.

“As a gesture of goodwill we refunded the money to Mrs Ackling after she admitted she had made a mistake by not reading the signs correctly," he said.

"Our terms and conditions are displayed clearly so we suggest that all our customers read the signs thoroughly."