A man who overstayed his allotted parking time and received a fine of £60 decided to settle the matter with a £1 cheque.

Richard Leeson, of Claremont Road, Surbiton, wrote to Smart Parking Limited explaining his reasons for dealing with the fine at Ashdown Road car park in Kingston.

Of the fine given on August 28, he wrote: “Your penalty charge notice is unclear and does not state if no payment was made or it was an overstay. I suspect that I paid for 30 minutes and my wife was delayed in returning to the car.

“Your penalty of £60 is disproportionate to the unfortunate overstay of 22 minutes and therefore I enclose my cheque for £1 for the 22 minutes I did not pay for at the time.”

He said if Smart Parking Limited did not accept this, he would defend his decision in court.

A Smart Parking spokesman said: “There are 11 signs clearly highlighting the terms and conditions of use positioned around the car park and the overwhelming majority of people pay for their parking without any problems.

“In the case of Mr Leeson, he parked for 52 minutes [including the 30 minutes paid for and the 22 minutes overstay] but decided not to pay for his parking, so was correctly issued a charge.

“He subsequently sent us a cheque for £1 which we have not cashed as this was not the legal charge amount. We are currently waiting for him to pay the full charge. If he does not, we will be left with no choice but to look at pursuing legal avenues.”