Angry Lawrence Tout has invoiced a parking company for £1,500 to cover the hours he wasted appealing an incorrect parking fine his wife received at The Shires Shopping Centre car park in Trowbridge.

Mr Tout, of Upper Westwood Road, said he took the action after becoming frustrated that the parking management company, CERSS, failed to withdraw the fine when he first contacted them.

His wife Olya regularly parks in the car park for work and was surprised to find she had been given a parking fine ‘for not displaying a valid ticket’ in July, even though she did have a visible valid ticket on the car dashboard.

Mr Tout said the area the ticket was displayed was missed off the evidence photos submitted by the parking attendant, but despite pointing this out to CERSS they insisted that he would still need to appeal through POPLA, the Parking on Private Land Appeals organisation.

“I gave them plenty of chances to retract the charge after I showed that they were clearly in the wrong, but they were adamant that it should go to appeal,” Mr Tout said.

“My wife parks on the top part of The Shires car park outside Asda and the parking attendant should have been able to see the ticket on the driver’s side of the dashboard.

“I scanned the ticket and sent it to the company, yet they still said I had to waste my time sending everything to POPLA to appeal the ticket.

“I won the appeal, but it shouldn’t have got that far.”

Mr Tout has sent off an invoice to CERSS for his wasted time, plus damages, for £1,500 and is looking to take his claim to the Small Claims Court as he has not had a reply.

CERSS was unavailable for comment.