A FRUSTRATED driver is facing a large parking fine for overstaying at a Colchester car park… despite leaving to visit her elderly grandmother just minutes after arriving.

Leanne Howard briefly parked in the McDonald’s car park in Cowdray Avenue whilst dropping her daughter and a friend off at Leisure World.

Arriving at about 12pm, she dropped them off and left to drop her son off at his grandmother’s house.

Leanne then went to pay a regular visit to her 97-year-old grandmother.

“I got round there at about 12.30ish and spent a couple of hours there”, she said.

“I then picked my son up and then went back to McDonald’s for about 3pm to pick up my daughter and her friend, then left.”

Following this, Leanne received a fine claiming she parked there for three hours straight, with the site only allowing 90-minute stays.

She said: “I appealed it the first time and it was rejected.

“The problem is I don’t have any evidence, their evidence is their cameras showing me entering the car park to drop her off and exiting the car park after I picked her up, but don’t have anything in between those times.

“I don’t know if it is an issue with the cameras.

“It was £60 but has gone up to £100.

“I haven’t paid it yet, not only is it something I can’t afford but I don’t like being called a liar. So I will keep trying.

“I will likely have to pay it eventually.”

Leanne continued: “I do wonder if there might be a no return within a certain time policy, but I have done this before with no issues.

“They said to me the car park should not be used as a drop-off and is for customers only, but I gave my daughter cash to buy lunch there so technically I am a customer.

“And I was fined for overstaying, not using it as a drop-off.”

The Gazette contacted MET Parking, which runs the site, for comment but they did not respond at the time of going to press.