A grandmother has been fined £70 for using an Aldi car park despite showing bosses her receipt to prove she'd shopped at the supermarket .
Irene Smith, 79, now faces court action and has branded her treatment as "traumatic and ridiculous".
The Aldi in Billingham, County Durham, operates a "ParkingEye" system where customers have to put their reg number inside a machine in the shop when they enter.
Irene did this on her visit in May but, a few days later, received a letter with a £40 fine for being in breach of parking regulations.
She wrote back with a copy of her receipt and visited the shop to show the manager it in person, Teesside Live reports.
But the pensioner was bombarded with three more letters, including a final demand for £70 or face prosecution.
"I found my receipt, made a photocopy and wrote a letter to ParkingEye explaining. I got a letter back to say my appeal had been unsuccessful and then another letter to say I had to pay £70 and to make another appeal," the grandmother, of Billingham, said.
"I'm an OAP, I've got an old second hand car, they must think I'm an easy target.
"Why should I pay it now when I haven't done anything? It's irritating and worrying. The first letter told me I hadn't been a customer, the second said I'd spent too long in the car park - both were not true.
"It has been totally ridiculous and traumatic - I was getting ready to go to court."
Since Teesside Live investigated the case, ParkingEye got in contact with Irene again - to say it'll drop the case.
Red-faced bosses conceded she was indeed a "genuine costumer".
A spokesman said: "On this occasion the motorist incorrectly entered their registration number into the terminal in order to obtain free car parking at this site. After further investigation into this case the charge was cancelled as the motorist was a genuine customer.
"We encourage all motorists who feel they have mitigating circumstances to appeal using our BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process."
Supermarkets often introduce strict parking rules to discourage people parking at the store and using other parts of town centres.
But the technology behind these rules can fail.
A hapless man from Hull was recently fined for parking outside an Asda for 14 hours - even though his car was on his driveway at home the whole time.
