A SHOPPER who says he never actually parked at the M&S store in Trowbridge, but spent several minutes trying to find a parking space before leaving, is livid that he was still fined.

Dean Ricketts, 31, drove into the 125-space Cradle Bridge Retail Park on September 19 for a shop at the foodhall but after finding it was full, he drove off to Castle Street car park.

Much to West Lavington resident’s annoyance, car park operators Smart Parking - who have been fining people for months on end for not collecting a ticket despite signs showing ‘Three hours, free parking’ - still sent him a £48 fine, something he says he appealed instantly.

Three months later, the now furious Mr Ricketts received a letter from the bailiffs saying that the fine had grown to £150.

“How on earth can I be charged if I didn’t even park there? I tried to find a spot, couldn’t and then I drove off to park elsewhere before shopping at M&S. I really am lost for words,” he said.

“I am quite happy to take them to court. I couldn’t believe it when I got the first fine. I appealed it online straight away. When I didn’t hear back from anyone for a while, I thought it had gone away but three months letter that fine had tripled.It is just a farce and extortionate.”

Smart Parking scrapped its rule where drivers had to put tickets bearing their car’s registration number on their vehicle in October but people have still been fighting fines from before then.

Site owner Mark Upton, director of KDL Ltd, said: “We and Smart Parking are looking into this case and other historic fines. We will not get rid of Smart Parking as the devil you know is better than the one you don’t. We made the changes when the tenants asked us.”

A Smart Parking spokesman said: "Smart Parking were brought into manage the Cradle Bridge Retail Park to stop parking abuse and to ensure spaces are always available.

"We use a state of the art ANPR parking management system that monitors cars entering and exiting the car park.

"There are numerous signs across the site which clearly explain the car parks terms and conditions of use, one of which is to correctly enter your registration number into the ticketing machines when parking.

"We would remind any motorist that when parking on private land they should always read the terms and conditions before deciding to park.

"In the case of this particular motorist he didn’t enter his correct registration, so correctly received a charge.”