A city man has vowed to boycott Riverside after he got a fine for parking on the line of a space.
BT engineer David Wyer, 55, of Armstrong Road in Thorpe St Andrew, visited Riverside to shop and grab a coffee with wife Jane.
But days later they received a letter stating they had to cough up for not staying in the white lines.
Mr Wyer explained how a planter within the allocated bay space had made parking his VW Scirocco a tight squeeze.
The fine letter provided pictures of Mr Wyer's car and stated that he was not 'parked wholly in bay'.
"It's not over the line, we're actually just on the line," he explained.
"The tyres are quite wide anyway, so you've got that to contend with.
"But the angle of which the photo was taken from the opposite side to make it look like you're overhanging a lot more than you are.
"The fact they've exaggerated it is frustrating.
"I mentioned this when we tried to appeal the fine but it was totally ignored."
To avoid the lofty £70 inflated fine, David paid the £42 early payment charge - although he believes doing so was an "injustice".
"In this time of 'every penny counts', this is something that we cannot really afford," he added.
David and Jane have vowed to boycott Riverside in future in protest over the fine.
He continued: "It's an insult. It's a heck of a squeeze.
"I've got better things to be spending that sort of money on. It's incredibly frustrating.
"I assume that they have a quota to work to make ends meet themselves. It feels like they're scraping the barrel in giving us a fine. It's lower than low.
"When I came back to the space, there was a car in it - meaning I hadn't obstructed the space for another vehicle. It seems so petty."
Highview Parking, which operates Riverside car park, did not respond to a request for comment.
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