Mum fined £100 for staying 21 seconds too long in car park

After collecting her friend, Atlanta says "was shocked" to find a parking fine on her doormat a month later - especially when she discovered she had been handed the penalty notice for overstaying by just 21 seconds.

"I couldn't believe it," said Atlanta from Dawley. "I was appalled. They say you can stay for ten minutes, but I was just 21 seconds over."

The drop-off/pick-up bay offers a free ten minute stay that is monitored through ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras but Atlanta said the camera system isn't accurate.

"It says you can park for ten minutes but the camera picks you up before you enter the area," said Amanda. "There is a pedestrian crossing on the way in so if you have to wait there then that is taken as part of the allotted time you are given. The camera then takes another picture when you are leaving."

The mother of one said she appealed to Smart Parking Ltd that runs the drop off zone for the Telford Centre but they rejected her appeal.

She is now attempting to get the fine overturned through the independent parking ticket appeals process, Popla.

Her fine comes after Telford resident John Bell-Ward was also given a £100 ticket for over staying in the same drop-off zone behind Primark at the Telford Centre after he over stayed by three minutes.

Mr Bell-Ward spent six months fighting the "unfair" ticket but eventually paid after being threatened with enforcement action.

Smart Parking Ltd declined to comment on the latest fine but a spokesman for the company had previously said the area was not a parking zone as it was designed to allow people to "drop off and pick up only".