A BUSINESSMAN has been left fuming after being given a £300 ticket for parking for two minutes while he asked for directions.

Gary Bennett was lost on the Ransomes Europark and pulled over to the side of the road while he went to speak to people at a nearby premises to seek help.

He then carried on his way but a few days later received a letter from Proserve Enforcement Solutions demanding £300 because he had not obeyed the signs prohibiting any trespass, stopping or waiting.

Mr Bennett, of Grimston Lane, Trimley St Martin, who runs GJ Bennett Groundworks, said “I just don’t think that is on and I am very angry about it.

“If I had parked there for hours and it had been a £30 or £40 fine, like a lot of drivers I would just accept that I had missed the signs and parked in the wrong place and paid up.

“But £300? It’s ridiculous, crazy money – that’s enough to pay my van insurance.

“I will not pay it and I am going to fight this all the way.”

Mr Bennett has taken advice from the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and officers at Suffolk County Council’s trading standards department.

“The letter I received from Proserve said I had damaged the area where I parked and that was why I needed to pay the fine. I have asked them to give me proof of the damage involved,” he said.

In a letter, Mark Lowne, of Proserve, based in Unity Street, Ipswich, said there were more than 120 warning signs at Ransomes Europark applying to both visitors and tenants of the estate, clearly warning of the consequences of parking.

A photograph showed Mr Bennett’s van parked on a bend, half on the path, outside the Bed Factory.

“Our client has an obligation to all the tenants on the estate, to maintain unencumbered access to the properties protecting the health and safety of not only the tenants but visitors to the estate,” he said.

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