A MOTORIST is prepared to go to court over a set of pay-and-display machines that she claims landed her with a hefty fine.

Sandy Gosling, 54, says she has had nothing but trouble since using the machines at the Railway Place car park in High Wycombe.

The final straw came on Thursday, April 19 when she was slapped with a parking fine despite paying for an all-day ticket.

Mrs Gosling inserted her usual £3 into the machine and was issued with a ticket.

But when she returned to her vehicle that afternoon she found a £40 minimum fine waiting for her.

She says that although the machine had swallowed up her £3, it had only given her the time equivalent for £1, which is just two hours. She failed to notice the short expiry time because she was in a hurry to get to work.

She said: "It the machine churned for about two to three minutes and then a ticket finally came out. It took longer than normal and I should have twigged it, but I didn't because the ticket eventually came out."

Mrs Gosling, who was only temping in High Wycombe, says she is determined not to pay the fine because the machines had been playing up for days.

At the start of the same week, she says she had to fork out £6 after a machine swallowed her initial £3 and wouldn't release a ticket. She says two people in front of her in the queue also had to pay double.

She also says she was approached by a parking attendant during her first week at the London Road site, who told her the machines had been playing up.

Mrs Gosling, of Postcombe near Thame, said colleagues had told her similar stories, but as they had used debit cards, proof of payment could be shown on their statements.

She said: "One didn't give a ticket and the other one was giving the wrong time out.

"I wonder how much money they would have made that week, I really do, because it would have malfunctioned for a period of time."

Mrs Gosling says she is prepared to prove the machines are faulty by going to the small claims court to retrieve the £3 she was overcharged. She is already contesting the parking fine.

Catherine Spalton, spokes-man for Wycombe District Council, said: "All records were checked for the day that Mrs Gosling received a parking ticket - no faults were recorded or found by inspectors."

She added: "If the amount of money or the expiry time required is wrong, the customer has the opportunity to insert more coins to the value required, or cancel the operation and start again."

Miss Spalton said there were no additional complaints regarding the machines.

She said there was a coin-jam error on May 1 but this was swiftly resolved. She added that this was the first error in a two-and-a-half month period.