A DRIVER has slammed a car parking company for what he claims is unfair treatment after he was fined despite his belief he was following the correct procedure.

Jamie Munday, 21, from Lawn, parked his MG in the carpark of the Regents Circus cinema complex while enjoying an evening out with friends.

He approached the ticket machine and began to key in his registration number when, to his surprise, the machine produced his ticket before he could finish entering his car’s number plate.

Still, he thought, he had followed the correct procedure and placed the ticket on his windscreen with the first four digits of his registration plate clearly identifying his car.

But to his shock, he returned later to find a fine stuck to his window, even though he had arrived back at his car with time to spare.

Jamie said: “I tried calling the company straight away, only to find that they were closed and that their offices would not be open again until Monday. So I emailed them that night, questioning why I had received a ticket.

“They said that I had not paid and displayed correctly, claiming that my ticket could not be seen. But in my email to them I attached images of my car when I found the parking penalty and my ticket can clearly be seen through my windscreen.

“My ticket was also well within the time limit and I had paid the correct fee in order to stay there for the length of time agreed upon, which is also displayed on the ticket.”

Jamie claims the company, UK Parking Control, then claimed that the reason he had been fined was not because the ticket could not be seen, but due to the fact that only half of his registration number was visible.

But when Jamie explained what had happened, UKPC, he claims, refused to back down.

“I then discovered that they had added £40 to my original £60 fee because POPLA got involved,” he said.

POPLA is an appeal body for people contesting parking charges.

Jamie, who works at DIY store Wickes, said: “Because I had appealed to the parking governing body and it had been rejected, they increased their original £60 parking fee to a £100, and to enable me to pay this by credit or debit card they also charged me £1.50.

“I would like to warn other drivers to be aware of the parking conditions and advise them to park elsewhere unless other parking companies with a stronger moral backbone, who are not seeking to rip their customers off, take ownership of the land.

“This whole experience has ruined what would have been a lovely memory of a good evening spent with friends and has caused me so much stress.”

Despite being contacted UKPC has not responded to the Adver’s requests for a comment.