Happy meal’s miserable end ... £100 parking fine

around 6.30pm returned to the retail park after taking Jamie to a birthday party at Laser Zone in Birkby to buy him his Happy Meal and left again at about 7pm.

But the car park operator issued her with a £60 fine for overstaying – saying her car had been at the retail park for seven hours and that she had 14 days to pay.

Rachel said she did not get notice of the fine until January 18 – a month after it was issued – meaning she was also hit by a £40 surcharge, taking the total to £100.

When she queried the fine, she was told she would have to provide evidence proving that she was not parked at the retail park all that time.

She said she had paid for goods at the retail park stores by cash, so she had no card record. And she no longer had the till receipts.

Said Rachel: “The company provided only two images of my car – but I came and went twice that day.

“I know where I was because my son went to a party. But for the party, I would have had no proof.”

Rachel contacted other parents from party – and the venue itself – asking them to confirm she had been there.

“They have been very helpful,” she added.

Rachel said she had now heard via a third party that the fine had been quashed, but was waiting for car park management company Parking Eye to confirm it.

“I have been told that the fine has been cancelled, which is a relief,” she said.

Rachel said she was a frequent visitor to the retail park at Wakefield Road, regularly shopping at stores including Pets at Home and Home Bargains.

But she said: “I would not normally go there twice in a day and I’ll never do that again.

“It has made me wary of going back to that car park.”