Motorist slapped with £60 parking fine - and he didn't even park

An angry motorist has been slapped with a £60 parking fine for driving round a car park for just 11 minutes – then leaving without actually even parking.

David Shooter drove round the packed car park for just 11 minutes but left after he couldn’t find a space, finding somewhere else to park instead.

But the 65-year-old was stunned when he received a £60 fine for not buying a ticket at the packed Siddals Road car park in Derby, despite not actually parking his car.

The retired headteacher has blasted owner Euro Car Parks for its “miserly” attitude after the company rejected his appeal.

Mr Shooter, from Checkley, Staffordshire, said: “I was only in the car park for 11 minutes and now I have had to pay £60 for the privilege.

“I didn’t even park up in a space, so I thought I had good grounds to appeal so I did.”

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“But they threw that out and wrote back to me saying if I did not pay the fine in a set number of days they would start court proceedings against me to recover the money. I didn’t want the hassle of going through all that so I have paid up.

“But what a miserly attitude they had and I suspect other motorists might receive the same type of letter.”

Mr Shooter and his wife, who suffers from ill health, arrived at the car park at 6.33pm on September 23, hoping to park to avoid walking too far to Derby Theatre.

After driving around the car park for 11 minutes searching for a space that “wasn’t in a pothole or a puddle”, Mr Shooter stopped the car briefly as he realised parking there would involve climbing steps, so decided to try to find another place to park.

But with cameras filming cars coming in and out of the car park, he was still hit by a fine despite not actually parking.

“In our case we were there for 11 minutes looking for a space, didn’t even park in one and still got hit for £60,” he said.

“The performance we went to see was thoroughly enjoyable but if I had known how much it was going to cost me I might have thought twice about coming to Derby to see it.”