A MAN on a Sunday shopping trip to Wrexham town centre could hardly believe his eyes when he picked up a £70 fine at the Eagles Meadow car park.

Barber Tony Brooke, from Crewe, knew he had bought a £2 ticket which covered him for another 20 minutes after he got back to his car.

And he was sure everything was in order because the car park attendant had actually helped him get the ticket out of the machine and walked with him back to his car as he put it on the dashboard.

Shocked and puzzled about what had happened, he asked the attendant why he had picked up a penalty and was told it was because the ticket had been upside down and he had been unable to read it properly.

Mr Brooke, 66, said: “I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“I had driven into the car park at around 2pm to do a bit of shopping at Eagles Meadow, which is better than anything we have at the moment in Crewe.

“I had not seen the type of ticket machine they have there before so I asked the attendant on duty for a bit of help.

“He was very obliging and actually fed the money into the machine for me.

“I bought a two-hour ticket, which gave me until 2.20pm, as all this had taken a bit of time.

“The man then came back to the car with me and actually watched me put the ticket on top of the dashboard.

“It was right side up when I left it but a draught caused by me shutting the car door must have blown it upside down.”

He added: “I came back to pick up the car at about 4pm, so I knew I had plenty of time left.

“I just couldn’t believe it when I saw the penalty ticket stuck to my windscreen.

“I went back to the attendant and asked the reason for it and he told me ‘the ticket was upside down and I couldn’t read it’.

“That is just amazing as he actually watched me leave it there.”

“I have already lodged an appeal and sent off a copy of the ticket I bought to prove it covered me until 4.20pm.

“The whole thing left me angry but it won’t put me off coming back to shop in Wrexham. I still like the place very much.”

Victoria Williams, regional manager for Vinci Parks which runs parking at Eagles Meadow, said: “If a ticket is not readable a person will get a fine.

“However, if they appeal against the penalty and can produce a valid parking ticket the fine is normally quashed.

“I don’t know exactly what happened in this case but I will investigate.

“We try to be as reasonable as we can.”