MOTORISTS have been left seeing red after being fined for outstaying their welcome at a free town centre car park which they have labelled a "trap".

They are livid about the changes to regulations at the car park in New Street, Ashford, next to Lidl, which has cut the limit for free parking from two hours to one hour.

The car park is owned by Lidl but monitored by City Parking Enforcement Ltd which controls the regulations and charges put in place by the discount store.

But those who have incurred fines say it is not the fact the time limit has been halved but that the change was unpublicised, leading many to start the New Year with a £75 parking fine which increases to £150 if unpaid within 10 days.

They say that while signs in the car park now state one hour is free, they are otherwise identical to those there before and that no effort has been made to draw attention to the change.

Charing parish councillor Corisande Bain Smith, 67, is one of these people. She said: “They are perfectly right to change it to one hour but not to do it without any notification.

“I will never park there again – I can’t afford to, I am a pensioner. It may be legal but it is certainly not ethical. It is a trap.”

Another complaint is that the vehicles are captured on CCTV which records registration numbers on entering and leaving the car park.

This has meant many people first knew they had incurred a fine when the parking charge dropped onto their doormat.

It has also left some drivers questioning the accuracy of the system.

Mark Byles, 44, of The Street, Little Chart, parked there twice on December 29, and while he was unaware the time limit had changed, said neither visit lasted more than an hour.

He was then shocked to receive a fine claiming he had parked there for more than five hours.

After writing a stern letter to City Parking contesting the fine, the teacher had his fine waived by the company but remains concerned about the operation.

“I want an explanation for the mistakes they have made,” he said.

“I think they should be making a pubic apology for causing distress to so many people.”

Paul Burnell, 45, of Cleves Way, Singleton, who parked there three times before receiving a ticket and realising the rules had changed, says he was also falsely accused of outstaying the limit.

On Christmas Eve, Mr Burnell said he parked for half an hour, left and then returned after forgetting something.

But the parking notice he received states he was there for more than two hours.

“They didn’t even put a ticket on your car saying you have been fined because at least then we would have known and wouldn’t have done it again,” he said.

He is still waiting for a reply to his letter appealing the fines.

SIGNS in the car park state that City Parking Enforcement Ltd has the power to obtain drivers’ details from the DVLA, something which has been contested by many of those who have incurred the fines.

The DVLA’s voluntary code of practice for private car parking enforcement, as accessible on their website, states that 'notices giving full details of the parking contravention and the proposed course of action to be taken by the enforcer should be placed in a prominent position on the “offending” vehicle’.

But despite fervent objections by many motorists to the fact they had not received a ticket on their windscreen but through their letterbox weeks later, the DVLA said City Parking had not breached regulations.

Spokesman for the DVLA Natalie Barroccu said: “Private car parking enforcement is not regulated and if it were it would fall outside the remit of the DVLA.

“Despite this, DVLA introduced a voluntary code of practice to encourage best practice and fairness in relation to the display of warning signs and ticketing arrangements.

“The code is a voluntary arrangement – DVLA has no powers to enforce compliance with its terms.

“Representations about the display of signs and other circumstances relating to an incident should be made directly to the company.”

This code of practice is under review by the DVLA which said it was taking into account technological advances such as the use of CCTV and postal tickets rather than those put directly onto vehicles.