Motorists have vowed to boycott a Newcastle-under-Lyme car park after receiving a £60 fine following an apparent change to payment rules.
Jessica and Harry Julian paid £1.50 to park at Lymelight Boulevard car park while visiting an escape room with friends.
The couple believed they had paid the correct amount for their 90-minute stay, only to receive a fine weeks later.
It has emerged that customers now need to manually adjust their parking time, a change that has reportedly caught out multiple motorists.
Motorists have vowed to boycott the Newcastle-under-Lyme car park
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Jessica, 29, from Chesterton, has been using the car park for 11 years since passing her driving test and told StokeOnTrentLive that it had always operated the same way.
The car park tariff says that it costs £1.50 for one hour, £2.60 for two hours, £3.70 for three hours, £4.80 for four hours, and £5.70 for 24-hour parking.
Jessica explained the system had previously calculated the fee automatically based on registration numbers.
"We went last month to do an escape room with friends. When we went in it took our registration number and then when you leave you put your registration into the machine and it gives you a price," Jessica said.
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"When we left, the machine came up saying £1.50 so we paid it and thought that was that."
She later discovered that customers are now expected to adjust their own parking time manually.
"Apparently, you are meant to adjust your own time to say how long you've been in there now - but we had no idea. I've never known a car park to work that way."
Jessica was shocked when car park operator Minster Baywatch rejected her appeal against the fine.
Jessica said that she was 'frustrated' and insisted that she would never park somewhere and then attempt to dodge paying (Stock)
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"I'm really frustrated. I'd never park somewhere and try to get out of paying. I paid the amount it asked me to pay," she fumed.
"I'm a younger person who's good with technology and it's still caught me out. I think a lot of older and vulnerable people are going to be really in trouble with it."
Jessica has discovered she is not alone in her frustration with the car park's new system, finding others who are complaining that they have been "caught out" and have ended up being fined.
A Minster Baywatch spokesman said: "We have looked into this specific PCN and can confirm the full payment relating to the period of parking was not paid, despite assertions.
"The site has recently moved from a pay on exit site to a pay on arrival, all machines were replaced with new machines, new signs installed throughout the car park and all barriers removed - the payments machines do not state how much is due for a parking event, a user determines this in advance of their parking.
"The new machines require users to record how long they wish to visit the site for and record their vehicle details, a very common payment method found on the high street and car parks with no barriers.
"Whilst the vast majority of users of the site have adapted well to the new system, we have noted a limited number of users seem to have struggled to adapt.
"As a BPA approved car park operator, we pride ourselves on operating transparently, as such last week (ahead of the news article) we wrote to people we believe may have received a PCN due to their own fault in payment, not paying the full amount and giving them the benefit of the doubt, cancelling their PCN. We must highlight there was no need to do this, PCN's were valid however this was completed in recognition that some regular users of the site may have not quite understood the system despite the significant change of equipment. Fortunately the vast majority of users have adapted to well without incurring a PCN.
"Additional signage has also been installed to remind users of the change of systems on site."
