A DRIVER says he is prepared to fight a 'thuggish' car park fine which dates back more than four years.

Roy Sheppard, who lives just outside Bristol, was meeting a friend at Regent Circus in Swindon in 2016. 

When he returned to his car he found a penalty notice slapped on the windscreen – but says his ticket was clearly visible and took a picture as proof.

He challenged the ticket with operator Euro Car Parks at the time and, when he heard nothing back, assumed the matter was dealt with.

But now he has received a letter from a debt collector telling him to pay £160.

Roy said: “It’s shocking that somebody could do this. I was shocked at the time when it was so obvious that I had paid, had come back within the time allocation and it occurred to me that whoever it was that put the ticket on my car was just being bloody-minded.

“The machines they have have a log of all the transactions so what was the issue?

Because it was four years ago, I thought that was the end of it all. 

“I was so shocked to get a very nasty, threatening letter from a debt collecting agency four years later.”

Roy said he will be challenging the fine.

He added: “It’s unbelievable, especially in light of what the world is going through now. 

“It’s a form of thuggery really. The fact they’re choosing to do this is very short-sighted, it punishes the very people who shouldn’t be punished. 

“If you’re not paying and you’re depriving somebody of income then that’s bad but they haven’t made a loss here. 

"I just think it’s shoddy and there are a lot of people who would just allow themselves to be bullied or threatened and would pay it but I’m not going to do that. 

“If they want to take this to court then I would be extremely happy to do something about it.”

Roy isn’t the first person to report issues with the car park to the Adver.

As recently as last September, one woman had to pay an £50 fine when she parked at the site during the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. 

Charlie Lancaster paid on her phone but still received a ticket. She said she didn’t want to take it any further as she was worried about going to court.

Euro Car Parks was approached for comment but did not reply.