by Jenni Horn

A pensioner has landed a £90 parking fine - because he went to spend a penny.

Alan Gomm visited Strood town centre to shop in B&Q. He parked outside the DIY store in Strood Retail Park but before going in, he nipped across the road to use the public toilets at the back of the High Street just a few metres away.

After doing his shopping he returned to his car to discover he had been given a £90 parking ticket.

It was only then that Mr Gomm, 77, of The Glebe, Cuxton, realised the small print on the car park notices state customers must not leave the site while their vehicles remain in the car park, or they will face a penalty.

He said: “I couldn’t believe it. There are no customer toilets in B&Q and there are no public toilets in the car park, so I had to cross the road and use the public toilets by the market.

“I went back into B&Q to ask the manger about it and he told me some of his employees had even been caught out by the penalty.”

Mr Gomm has written to UKPC, the company which operates the running of the car park for a private landlord, but they have not yet answered his appeal.

He said: “I have explained to them that I have a medical condition which meant I had to use the toilet but this is irrelevant really because everyone has the human right to be able to go to the toilet when they want to.

“£90 seems like an awful lot of money just for leaving the site, it’s not like I parked in the wrong place.”

A Rochester man, who did not want to be named, says his wife was also fined for leaving the site to use the toilets in the town centre.

He said: “She then came back and went into Matalan, so she was still a retail park customer

“When she discovered the parking ticket she spoke to the car park attendant who said he had seen her leave her car, why could he have warned her she was going to get a fine when he saw he leave?”

UKPC had not responded to our requests for a comment as we went to press.