A driver was slapped with a £60 parking fine after he was forced to queue 10 minutes for a ticket.
Paul Adams, 55, was given the penalty after stopping in the coastal town of St Ives in Cornwall.
He visited the town over the October half term where he parked at a laundrette car park - he paid £8.50 for a parking ticket.
Read more:
Despite this, he later received notice for a £60 fine for the time he spent trying to find a space and buying the ticket.
At the car park he had to wait 14 minutes to find a spot to pull in and spent another 10 minutes in line at the machine.
He told CornwallLive : "We visit St Ives regularly and use the car park and haven't had an issue in 30 years
"I feel it needs to be publicised.
“Everyone using that car park needs to know the risk they take.
"That is over and above what you would normally accept as being reasonable."
He added: "I find the fact they charged us £60 because we were waiting for a space very unfair when we also paid a day's parking."
Mr Adams received the notice from the parking firm in charge, Armtrac Security Services Ltd.
He tried to lodge an appeal but it was denied by the firm who claimed the notice was "correctly issued".
The firm claimed the vehicle had "no valid cashless season or valid ticket" for the 24 minutes while he was in the car park.
They said: "Our records show that the notice was correctly issued as your vehicle was parking in breach of the terms and conditions of parking.
"All motorists have a duty to care to abide by the clearly displayed terms and conditions of parking in return for permission to park on the site and Armtrac Security Services have a duty of care to the landowner to ensure the clearly displayed terms and conditions of parking are being adhered to."
Despite disagreeing with the decision, Mr Adams says he has since paid the £60 fine to avoid "over-zealous recovery".
