A driver who was on a five-hour drive to visit his sick mother has been slapped with a £200 fine for sleeping at a motorway service station.
Chris Allen, 29, stopped for a coffee and took a rest when he was travelling from Devon to Grantham, Lincolnshire, to visit his mum Angela, 62, who had been rushed to hopistal.
He ended up having a six-and-a-half-hour sleep from 1.30am to 8am - which is over the two-hour parking limit at the motorway service.
He said he did not realise he needed to pay and drove off from Leicester Forest East services.
Three months later, he received a £100 fine but he refused to pay it because he said he followed road safety advice.
Chris, a delivery driver, said: "I didn't pay it out of principle."
company ParkingEye two weeks ago, and a judge doubled his fine.
Chris was in rage and blasted: "I don't think I should pay a £200 fine for doing what any responsible driver should do, which is stop when they're tired.
"They're more interested in getting money out of you. The whole attitude is appalling.
"In the future, I will strongly advise people not to take a break when tired."
He was then summoned to Lincoln County Court by car park management.
Chris said he will now have to pay the increased fine for the incident in April last year.
A spokesman for road safety charity Brake said that 'driving tired can have devastating consequences' and said: "We advise all drivers to take a break of at least 15 minutes every two hours."
Simon Williams, from the RAC, said: "While we naturally sympathise with Mr Allen's nasty surprise, the practice of charging for long-stay parking at motorway services has been in force for some time in order to prevent people taking advantage of the otherwise free parking.
"That said, Mr Allen, who is no doubt still smarting from the experience, definitely did the right thing by resting instead of continuing to drive while tired and therefore risking being involved in a collision."
A spokesman for ParkingEye said: "In this case the motorist refused both the offer to settle the matter without going to court and the option to appeal the charge.
"In this case, the motorist stayed in the car park for over six hours without paying for parking.
"We would also highlight that parking can be paid for retrospectively at any time prior to exiting the car park via a number of different payment methods."
