Furious Tony Williams was landed with a £60 fine after he unwittingly underpaid for a parking ticket by 60p.

Mature student Mr Williams, of Sparsholt, near Wantage, put £2.40 in a pay machine, in Broad Street, Oxford, thinking it entitled him to two hours.

But, unknown to him, the charge for two hours parking had gone up to £3.

He was consequently issued with a parking ticket. The 63-year-old has refused to pay the fine, claiming not enough notice was given that charges had gone up. He fumed: "I am a regular visitor to Oxford, but I had not been into the city for a few weeks.

"I just paid my usual £2.40 and walked away without realising the charges had gone up.

"Everyone accepts that I did not intend to underpay, but once you are in the system there is nothing you can do about it. "I am being forced to pay a fine 100 times the value of the underpayment.

"I object to being pursued in this way."

Parking charges went up last June and Mr Williams received his ticket in September.

John Crossley, parking manager for Oxfordshire County Council, said the price hike was advertised widely.

He said a colourful notice inside the ticket machine displayed the new charges for motorists. He added that Mr Williams' case had been heard at three appeals, including one by the independent Parking Appeals Service.

Mr Crossley said: "We do all we can to notify people of changes to parking charges, but we have to rely on motorists reading the display on the machines.

"If there is any doubt about the validity of a ticket, we will cancel it."

Story date: Saturday 10 April

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