ANOTHER outraged motorist has hit out at a parking company after being charged £60 for parking in the wrong place.

Mike Lyons, 53, from Saddleworth, arrived at Angouleme Way Retail Park in Bury town centre and parked in front of the Argos store in his blue Skoda Kodiaq.

Thinking he had parked on a car park owned by Bury Council, he paid £2 at the council’s parking meter, but was shocked to be issued a £60 fine from Smart Parking the next day.

Mr Lyons, who will be appealing the fine, said: “I paid the £2 in good faith and now I feel aggrieved and cheated, both by the council and by Smart Parking who need to much more clearly delineate their parking spaces.

“Sometimes we can have a sensible discussion with the council but with these private companies it can be very difficult because they want to make some easy money.

“If this were an isolated incident, you could perhaps argue that I should have been more careful, however this has happened to so many others, I am not the first, and sadly won’t be the last.

“On that day alone, it looked like there were a few people who parked in the same area and paid at the same meter so I expect they had the same problem.

“They need to improve their signage and put put clear partitions between parking areas that are privately owned and those run by the council.”

A Smart Parking spokesman said: “Smart Parking was engaged to manage the Angouleme Way Retail Park car park in order to ensure genuine customers can always find somewhere to park. At the car park there are numerous signs clearly stating the terms and conditions of use.”

The official said payment machines were a different colour and there was clear signage identifying the layout of the separate car parks.