A mum has described how her Easter weekend family visit to the Suffolk seaside was 'ruined' by a 'ruthless and unreasonable' car parking firm that issued her with a £100 fine for overstaying a ten minute parking restriction.
Many motorists have taken to social media site Facebook to slam the situation at the privately-run Easton Farm car park near Southwold pier after being charged for waiting for more than the ten minute 'grace period' without a ticket.
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But Debenham mum Amy Taylor said she could not get a ticket for more than 20 minutes because of queues at the machine when she visited over the busy Easter weekend, resulting in her receiving the £100 fine a few days later from National Parking Management (NPM), which operates the car park.
She added: "It was our only family day together at Easter. Money's tight because of the cost of living crisis and it just really ruined our whole Easter weekend."
The mother-of-three described the process of getting a ticket as 'cumbersome' and the machines as 'slow'.
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She added at the time of her visit, there were a number of elderly people who were struggling to use the machine 'which needed a degree to master' and required customers to input their registration number and other details.
The family - including Amy's husband David Read and daughters Darcy, Taylor and Molly - were visiting Southwold to enjoy fish and chips and see the pier.
Amy said although the details about the grace period were included on signs around the site, the information was written in small print and could easily be overlooked.
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She has since appealed against the fine to NPM, which was rejected and has now taken her case to independent adjudicators.
"There will be many people in this situation on the weekend in question - with the cost of living crisis, nobody needs this added worry.
"Companies like this are ruthless and unreasonable and will give Southwold a bad name," Amy added.
NPM have been approached for comment.
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