Parking chiefs at East Hampshire District Council have rejected the request of an Alton man to overturn a fine he received for parking outside of marked bays.

Nigel Youell, of Anstey Road, was one of several drivers fined at the Victoria Road car park on June 26 during Jane Austen Regency Week.

Mr Youell said there were no markings at all in the area where he and three others left their cars, but added that they were not causing an obstruction and it seemed “a perfectly logical place to park”.

But despite East Hampshire District Council chairman Cllr Graham Hill putting Mr Youell’s case, officers in the parking and traffic management department stuck to their guns.

Cllr Hill asked them: “Is it possible that the penalty charge notice can be reviewed as he claims that there were no notices or markings saying that this area was ‘no parking’.

“In any event, in the future can it be made clearer with markings and notices as what areas are permitted for parking and those areas that are not?”

Sam Ings, the environment and neighbourhoods lead at East Hampshire District Council, replied to Cllr Hill.

Sam said: “The main tariff board in the car park clearly states the conditions for parking there, and the top condition is ‘Park within lined bays only’. The customer did not park within a lined bay, and therefore a penalty charge notice was issued.

“The condition is also present in our other car parks and is applied accordingly. By way of an example, some customers recently parked in an area of Central car park which did not have lined bays and they were issued with a penalty charge notice.

“Penalty charge notices have an appeals process. Should the customer be unhappy with our decision upon the initial stage of the process, they can proceed to the next stage whereby it would be heard by a tribunal.

“We do have plans to make use of this area of Victoria Road car park for specialised bays, and we are looking to implement that. However, at present the area is not available for customers to park.

“Please also note Victoria Road car park is relatively quiet, so there should usually be lined bays available for customers to use in line with the conditions.”

Mr Youell was not impressed with the council’s response.

He said: “It is what I expected. They are holding the line.

“All I can say is they are protecting what has to be a nice little earner based on confusion and a vague statement that they are going to do something in the future. Just how many drivers have been caught out, and will be in the future?

“I have paid and see no point in challenging the fine as they are not going to change their line. I find their intransigence and their failure to accept how confusing the situation is really annoying. Most frustrating is they are not going to do anything about it other than keep collecting fines.”