A key worker is facing a bill of £160 after being handed a ticket for parking outside an East of England Co-op in Stowmarket - even though he was only in the store for THREE minutes.

The Stowmarket man is fuming after his appeal against a parking charge notice was refused as his daughter did not get out of the car and enter the supermarket with him.

But National Parking Enforcement Ltd, who manage the car park on behalf of the Co-op, maintain the ticket was “correctly issued” and said signs in the area display the conditions of parking.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, parked his car with his six-year-old daughter inside in a parent and child space in front of the East of England Co-op supermarket in Combs Lane, Stowmarket, on May 21.

As he stopped for ice cream, his daughter did not enter the supermarket with him - citing fears around catching coronavirus as her reason.

Several weeks later, National Parking Enforcement sent the man a parking charge notice of £100 as no child entered the supermarket with him.

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Private firms can issue motorists tickets known as parking charge notices, though they are not legally enforceable.

The charge was subsequently appealed with proof that the child was in the car, but the firm’s independent appeals service rejected the claim - and the man now faces paying out an increased sum of £160.

He said: “It was our first time out as a family during lockdown.

“My daughter didn’t want to get out of the car because of Covid - it’s as simple as that.

“I could not compel my child to exit the vehicle due to a global pandemic which, at the time, we were in the full midst of.”

A spokesman for National Parking Enforcement said: “As stated on the terms and conditions for parking at this site, drivers parking in a parent and child bay must be accompanied out of the vehicle by a child 12 years old or less.

“We deem this parking charge notice has been correctly issued as the photographic evidence we hold on file show the passenger left the vehicle without being accompanied by a child.

“These bays are reserved for drivers that wish to manoeuvre their child out of their vehicle in a safe manner.

“If the child refused to leave the vehicle, the driver should have parked in a regular parking bay.”

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