A PARKING firm has been accused of playing 'dirty tricks' on unsuspecting members of the community who are being given on-the-spot fines for parking to dump their recycling at Leg O' Mutton.

Leif Townsend, who received a £70 parking fine after dropping off his plastic milk bottles, claimed the attendants were hiding and waiting to pounce as soon as people left their cars.

There have also been reports of people being fined for parking outside St Paul's Church across the road while they attended funerals.

Both car parks are owned by Maristowe Estate, which controversially introduced parking charges in them last year, after decades of their being free to the public.

A private parking firm was appointed to adminster the car park on behalf of the estate

Mr Townsend said he had parked on the double yellow lines a few metres away from the recycling bins to avoid causing an obstruction to children exiting the playpark adjacent to it.

'I had been gone for a little longer than usual because my daughter had been poorly and I had to sort her out with a change of clothes. It was no longer than five or six minutes and when I got back I found a parking ticket had been slapped on my car.

'Another chap parked up to unload his recycling and the same thing happened to him. He was really fuming about it.

'The ticket said if you did not pay within seven days the fine goes up to £100 and that's a lot of money, particularly for someone on a pension.'

He said when it came to council car parks, ten minutes' grace was given: 'It's dirty tricks that are happening at Leg O' Mutton — to hide and wait for people to leave their cars is just not on.

'It's an expensive price for recycling some milk cartons and I, for, one, will not be using that recycling point again.'

Local priest Rev Peggy Salmon said she was aware that people had been fined for parking in both car parks.

'It seems very, very sad if people have to park to attend a funeral. There is a concession on a Sunday so people can park outside the church for free but that does not apply in the week.'

She added that the parking machine was not very apparent and people were getting caught out if they had not been to the church for a while.

Richard Eales from the Corner Shop, who has always been opposed to the parking charges, said Maristowe Estate had justified introducing the charges to pay for the upkeep of the car park, but no maintenance had been done.

'There is 3ft of grass there, it is all overgrown and people have no idea it is a car park. There are not even any specified bays for parking.

Managing agent for Maristowe Estate Joseph Hess said there was no charge for dropping off recycling and it was clearly marked as a drop-off point outside the bins.

He said he could not comment on specific incidents but he had requested a meeting with the parking company to clarify their remit and the charging zones.