Dog-sitter Gareth Oates has slammed one of Stoke-on-Trent's biggest leisure attractions - after being wrongly hit with a £65 parking fine.
The 43-year-old parked at Waterworld to meet a client and collect their pet pooch as part of a pre-arranged meeting.
And he returned to the Festival Park attraction more than three hours later to return the dog to its owner.
But Gareth, of Heron Cross, was then stunned to receive the parking penalty.
He said: “I received a letter saying I had been parked for more than three hours but I was never there that long. I picked the dog up, left, and then went back about three hours later.
“I have looked on an online forum and a few people have said that they dropped someone off and picked them up only to receive a fine. It seems to be quite common.
“It said it would cost me £65 if I paid within two weeks and it would go up if I didn't.
“It had a picture of me driving in and driving out but it should have had four pictures.”
Gareth set up Walk and Wag Dog Walking and Pet Sitting Service in January and cannot afford to be spending money on a fine. He has since had the fine quashed.
He added: “If someone is just picking up and dropping off then my advice is that they shouldn’t use the car park. I’ve been telling people to make sure they take photos.”
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Parking is £3.50 for up to eight hours. There is a one-hour grace period for Waterworld and Subway customers.
A Waterworld spokesman said: “We changed parking company only recently and this is a very isolated incident, although we do get guests saying they did not see the signs.
“There is an hour grace period where it is free for guests and Subway customers and if anyone does have an issue then we will always try to resolve it.”
The car park is monitored by 3D Parking which says it is happy to quash wrongly issued fines.
3D Parking official Stuart Cole said: “Gareth has been unfortunate, although it is always possible that a camera takes a picture going in and not out. That is why we have an appeals process and we will always tell people to come and talk to us.
“If we say this happened once in every thousand people it would be an overestimate. We’re not here to penalise people.”
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