The six-week happiness course that ended – with a parking fine

GUESTS on a ‘happiness course’ ended up feeling anything but after they were stung for hundreds in parking fines.

The Bridge Hotel in Prestbury, Cheshire, advertised free parking to visitors but a new system was installed by liquidators when the business fell into administration last October. Drivers – including four attending a six-week happiness course – claim the new rules were not made clear and that hotel staff told them to ignore penalty notices, causing them to rise.

Lisa Kelly, 50, whose fines escalated to £320, said: ‘It has really raised my anxiety levels, because of the fact that we went on a happiness course. It doesn’t seem to have created much happiness.’

Appeals to parking body POPLA must be made within 28 days but Tanya Hemphill, 44, who ran the course, said three drivers missed the opportunity to do so after being falsely reassured by staff.

The Bridge Hotel and Moorfields, its liquidator, refused to comment.