A driver in Bracknell has complained that 'authoritarian' officers are "out in force " after being hit with a parking fine.

Minnie Russnak-Johnston, aged 52, has been served with a penalty charge notice (PCN) after parking in the Weather Way car park in the town centre earlier this month.

She paid via mobile phone but got one character on her number plate wrong, which led to her being fined, leading her to accuse parking officers of acting in an 'authoritarian' and 'inflexible' manner.

She said: "I tried to challenge hoping the human on the other end would see the easily done mistake and show some compassion and understanding.

"But no, no consideration. Just a straight up fine, which makes me wonder: Where has the compassion gone in the system?

"How can you form a cohesive 'community' or build some aspect of community when you have this kind of authoritarian b******* to deal with?

"It even says that the traffic warden may choose to issue a PCN - not that its mandatory.

"Even their letter says its not mandatory and a choice could be made at the time of the ticket.

"Is it me or is this completely excessive, lacking any nuance and does not seem to hold up with the directive that a PCN should be issued in the interest of the public I was not out of time I am the public and we all make small mistakes.

"We are not computers!"

She added: "I have had local business people tell me that the parking police are out in force and you have to be really really careful … how does that set a nice friendly environment if part of a conversation is about how un-friendly the council is towards local business customers.

"You have to be mindful of time instead of being able to enjoy the marketing tactic for making the town centre a place where you feel welcome seeing its being policed by dictators … what is this Russia??

"Instead of providing a nice place to come visit it is authoritarian – I'd rather pay an extra £1 a month in council tax and have free parking.

"With 121,000 people that would generate around £1.4 million … I'm sure that would make the place a much nicer place to visit…. easier for employers to attract people and employees, it would be more inviting to the public who would spend more as a result and would generate more people to come visit the town centre – which would be great for business!

"Back to my point – the inflexibility – seems like something you’d get in Russia not sunny Bracknell."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Bracknell Forest Council whether it would cancel Minnie Russnak-Johnston's fine and consider her suggestion to make parking free.

In response, Bracknell Forest Council's assistant director for contract services Damian James said officers are not incentivised to usses penalty notices and nor do they have discretion for individual PCNs.

The officer said: “The civil enforcement team is required to monitor town centre car parks and issue PCNs where a contravention is made.

"In this case, the PCN was issued correctly.  This PCN was issued in Weather Way car park which accepts cash, credit card and Pay by Phone. In this instance, Pay By Phone was used but the wrong registration number was entered.

"It is the responsibility of the driver to ensure the correct details are used. Failing to do so means there is no valid parking session registered. The decision to reject the initial challenge to the PCN was correct.

“Recipients do have the option to challenge informally a second time and submit a representation if the second challenge is rejected. They also have the option to submit an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if the representation is rejected. In this case, no further challenges were received, and the recipient chose to pay the fine. Once a payment is made for a PCN, the case is closed and cannot be refunded.

“The town centre parking tariffs are competitively priced against other local towns and free parking regimes are currently not under consideration. Additionally, the town centre is also easily accessible via active travel options if residents and visitors do not wish to use a car.”