AN ELDERLY couple were fined by a parking firm...for being three minutes over their ticket as they queued to leave, they have claimed.

Joy Sinclair and her partner were shopping at the Knightswick Centre on Canvey earlier in December when they were hit with a ticket.

With residents flooding the shops to finish their Christmas shopping, the pair were met with queues both in shops and as they attempted to leave the car park, on December 8.

As a result, the pair claimed they stayed on site from 11.09am until 12.12pm, but had only paid for an hour’s ticket.

Ms Sinclair, 83, had been shopping in Boots and Sainsbury’s with her 90-year-old partner Fred Willis, with the couple unaware they had outstayed their welcome until a fine arrived on Christmas Eve.

Ms Sinclair said: “Boots is wonderful how they help you. I thought, shall I go or shall I wait, but I thought if we go I will have to come back another time.

“We didn’t want to hang around because of the virus.

“But there’s no warning sign to say if you’re found in there minutes later you will get a fine, we paid for an hour.

“We hadn’t realised we had gone over the time because of the queues, the car park gets absolutely packed.

“Cars keep coming in and out and you have to wait a little while.”

The couple received the £60 fine on Christmas Eve and have since paid the fee, but have stressed Smart Parking should do more to advertise the fees and warnings about being just minutes over your ticket.

Ms Sinclair added: “We should have some kind of warning sign.

“We didn’t want to be long, we didn’t want to get near people, so we paid for one hour instead of two hours.”

David Willis, Fred Willis’ son, said: “Surely if my dad had got to his car and was queuing to leave, this time should not have been added to parking time.

“If it’s not bad enough in this crazy times for people over a certain age and low income pensioners having to take the risk to get their shopping, they also now have the extra stress of getting a hefty fine which compounds with any delay in payment.”

Smart Parking, who run the car park, were contacted but did not respond. Sainsbury’s were also contacted.