Shopper's warning after five-hour Doncaster session landed her a £100 cash demand

She had faced queues in Matalan, TK Maxx, Poundland and Card Factory. And on top of that she had needed to queue to get out again after a mammoth shopping session at the Wheatley Centre on Wheatley Hall Road.

But she finally managed to get home after the session on December 12 last year and relax.

She thought nothing of it – until nearly two weeks later when a shock arrived in the post at her home in Edenthorpe.

Angie opened the letter – and found she had been fined £100 for overstaying the car park’s four hour limit, or £50 if she paid inside two weeks.

Then she tried to appeal, only for the system to refuse to let her upload her receipts. She then had another letter coming through on January 24 telling her that her appeal had been rejected.

Angie wants others to avoid similar fines.

She said: “All the time I’ve been going to the Wheatley Centre, I never even realised that there was a time limit. I had not seen the signs.

“I want in at about 9am, but the queues were huge, because it was just before Chistmas. Then I struggled to get out of the car park because it was a bottleneck.

“Doncaster has had a tough time in terms of shops recently, and there have been shops closing down. Fines like this are just going to drive people out to Meadowhall.

“You can easily spend four hours there – there is a cafe there after all as well as the shops.

“The town centre has been hit hard recently, House of Fraser has just closed.

“Yes, I was there for five hours – but it took me ages to get out.”

But Angie’s story is set to have a happy ending despite the upset over the ticket, after the Doncaster Free Press took up her case.

After we contacted the centre’s owners, British Land, the firm has agreed to refund her the cost of the parking fine. It has made no additional comment.