A WEDDING photographer was left with a £50 parking fine at Rochester Cathedral after accidentally paying for a ticket - 420 miles away in Scotland.

Simon Everett was working in Kent in May when he realised he needed to pay for more time on the pay and display machine.

The 47-year-old got his phone out and paid a £1 fee on the RingGo cashless parking app.

However, he accidentally clicked for a space near Glasgow Cathedral, and when he got back to his Nissan after the shift, he was shocked to see a penalty charge notice.

As he felt it was an honest mistake, he decided to appeal.

Simon said: “I’m a wedding photographer so I use a lot of church car parks and I’ve used this specific one quite a lot in the past.

“The job I was doing that day required me to stay for six hours and the maximum you can book a ticket for is five.

“So I rang the number for the car park’s local offices for advice on staying there longer and they said that it would be absolutely fine if I paid for five hours and then booked an extra hour on the RingGo app.

“I googled the location number for Rochester Cathedral, and must have clicked the wrong cathedral parking number. For some reason Glasgow Cathedral popped up in the middle to the results.

“I went off to do the job thinking everything was sorted only to arrive back and see a parking penalty which said my paid parking had run out and hour ago.

“It was an honest mistake that anyone could have made - I naturally assumed when it said ‘Cathedral’ it wasn’t in Scotland.

“I rang the office again and they told me to appeal it with the council.

“So I wrote them a letter explaining what happened.

“Two months later and I received a letter saying I hadn’t paid my penalty charge and it had been increased to £75.”

The Gravesend local had to wait until last month for a reply to his appeal.

However, it wasn’t in his favour, leaving him upset and angry.

He added: “I had only paid for the wrong location – it’s an easy mistake.

“The council’s attitude to this over £1 and a simple mistake is disgusting and just a continued money generator.

“I feel deflated a council seems so hard up for revenue that they have to go to these measures over £1.”

He has reluctantly paid £50.

Simon added: “I’m tempted to ask for my pound back from RingGo.

“It’s just the principle - I’ve paid for the parking.”

Responding to his claims, Medway Council’s head of highways and parking, Simon Swift, said: “The gentleman bought a pay and display ticket and, after it expired, tried to extend his stay using RingGo.

“Even though, it appears he may have paid for parking in Glasgow, the cathedral car park is short stay and motorists are unable to extend their stay once their initial parking period has expired.

“The signs in the car park clearly state there is a maximum five hour stay and that motorists cannot return within two hours of the expiry time on their first pay and display ticket.

“We have looked carefully into the gentleman’s appeal, however, the penalty charge notice was correctly issued.”