An elderly couple are fuming over getting a parking ticket for briefly pulling over at a bus stop.

Robert Winchester, 76, hadn’t even turned off his engine when he stopped to let his wife Helen, 74, nip out to deliver a parcel in Wye.

But an Ashford Borough Council (ABC) civil enforcement officer was filming the vehicle on a body-worn camera – and a penalty charge notice for £70 later arrived in the post.

Mr Winchester begrudgingly took the option of settling the fine early by paying just £35 – but he believes the council should have shown more “leeway.”

“I think it’s absolutely dreadfuI,” the former building firm boss told KentOnline.

“I was there for two minutes while my wife got out of the car and crossed the road. I did not leave the car or turn off the engine. I immediately drove away.

“We are both pensioners and our combined age is over 150 years.

“This is a disgraceful way of collecting funds.“

The grandparents-of-four, from Brook, stopped their Vauxhall in Wye High Street on Friday, August 18.

Mrs Winchester, a former head of a recruitment company, got out of the car to return an Amazon parcel, delivering it to the Wye News shop across the road.

But the car had been just inside a marked bus stop clearway and was spotted by the enforcement officer.

The penalty charge notice from ABC records the car being at the bus zone from exactly 3.17pm to 3.19pm.

It said the officer was preparing a ticket at the scene but could not give it there and then, as the car was promptly moved on.

Mr Winchester says he hadn’t noticed the officer there. Pictures he was given by the council show no buses around at the time.

He afterwards made a written complaint to the authority but it replied that this was a rule of the Highway Code and stopping at a bus stop is not even allowed for picking up or dropping off passengers.

Mr Winchester added: “I understand if you break the law you have to face the consequences but I was two minutes at a stop where the bus only comes once an hour. It becomes rather a laughing matter.

“Where is the leeway? I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. This is unnecessary aggravation.”

A council spokesman said: “The driver in this case had stopped at a bus stop which was clearly marked ‘no stopping except local buses’.

“Images from our civil enforcement officer’s body-worn camera show space further along the road where the car could have more suitably stopped.

“It is our duty to enforce road traffic orders and issue penalty charge notices (PCNs) in accordance with the Traffic Management Act.

“We must act fairly and consistently and therefore if any of our officers witness a contravention then they must issue a PCN. Anyone issued with a PCN has the right to appeal.”

Mr Winchester agreed that there were parking spaces 200 yards away behind the nearby Co-op store – but this time his wife was carrying a parcel and he wanted to see her safely across the road.