A MUM-of-three is today warning others to be careful when paying and displaying car parking tickets in a town centre car park.

A MUM-of-three is today warning others to be careful when paying and displaying car parking tickets in a town centre car park.

Kirsten Crane, 34, of Morland Road, in the Gainsborough area of Ipswich, paid £2.70 for a two-hour parking slot in the Cox Lane Annex run by NCP.

When she returned to her car she found she had been fined and had to pay a further £25 penalty charge - because the ticket was from the wrong machine.

Mrs Crane, who works as a cleaner, said: “I want to warn other people to be careful when they park in the Cox Lane car park.

“I took my 17-year-old son Dale into town for an appointment. We parked behind the Co-op and he went to get me a ticket which I displayed on the window. I didn't think anything more about it and we went into town.

“When we got back I knew my two hours hadn't run out but I saw a fixed penalty notice on the car. We had got the ticket from the Ipswich Borough Council machine and not from the NCP machine.”

Forced to pay an extra £25 on top of the £2.70 car parking charge, Mrs Crane said the mistake was easily made.

She said: “My son has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) but the nearest machine was closest to where we had parked.

“I would probably have done the same thing and I don't want others to do the same. A lot of people will be parking there now especially as Christmas is coming up. I have learnt from our mistake.”

Mrs Crane said she would have taken the dispute further but lost her original ticket.

She said: “I had no proof that I bought the original ticket in the end so I had to pay up.

“It's not cheap to park in Ipswich anyway and then to get a further £25 on top. It made me angry. Lots of Mum's ask their children to go and get a ticket so it's not Dale's fault.”

A spokesman for Ipswich Borough Council said: “We are sorry Mrs Crane is confused by the different car parks but we have made sure we have put up clear signs and notices about not buying tickets from the wrong machine.

“There is also a clear fence between the two car parks.”

A spokesman for NCP said: “We want to make the use of our car parks as easy as possible and as far as we are concerned the signs are clear.

“If this lady is concerned or has a complaint she should drop us a line and we will look into it.”

Have you made the same mistake? What do you think? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk