A father has issued a warning to motorists after forking out nearly £400 on his daughter’s parking fines.

Karen Fey was given the fines while she was house-sitting for her sister in Maidstone.

She was correctly parking in the right space but had forgotten to display the resident's parking permit.

"People convicted of relatively serious crimes are fined less than this."

David Fey, Larkfield

Her father David Fey said: "There is no doubt that my daughter broke the rules. However, a fine of £396 does seem rather extreme for what, in effect, was a technicality.

"After all, she was parked in the correct space so it was simply the absence of one small document that proved so expensive. People convicted of relatively serious crimes are fined less than this."

The fines were imposed by Kent Parking Services, which supervises parking on the site for the freeholder.

The company offers a free service to land-owners, making its money from the fines it collects.

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Having parked in her sister’s place, Miss Fey did not return to her car for three days because she was able to walk into town for her job at a recruitment agency.

She did not realise she was collecting an £85 penalty each day, only noticing when her car was clamped. She then additionally had to pay £141 to have the clamp removed.

Mark Williams, operations manager for Kent Parking Services, said: "The young lady had parked for 6 days without a valid permit to park displayed - photographs were taken showing that no permit was displayed.

"A tow truck had been called and attended to remove the vehicle, it was only at this point did she appear to deal with the matter. It is a term and condition of parking, that a permit is clearly displayed at all times.

He added: "Mr Fey spoke on a number of occasions to the appeals manager and was advised that she had no grounds for appeal and therefore the appeal had been refused."