More than £10,000 in parking fines has been written-off after hundreds of north-east motorists were unfairly issued with tickets.
The charges were handed out to people who used a car park shared by Aldi supermarket and Lasan Indian restaurant in Westhill.
The facility is managed by a company called Parking Eye, which allow shoppers a maximum one-and-a-half hour stay before issuing a penalty.
Lasan said it had an agreement with the firm which allowed their customers to park for free.
However, between September and December 2014, 300 people were fined by the firm.
Aberdeenshire Council’s trading standards service carried out an investigation into the mix-up, which resulted in the refunding of 136 paid parking charge notices totalling £5,500.
A further 150 outstanding notices amounting to £5,940 were cancelled.
Westhill councillor Amanda Allan said the landowner of the car park on Westhill Drive had brought in the restrictions after locals began to use it as a make-shift “park and ride”.
The car park is also said to be heavily used by parents picking up and dropping off kids at Westhill Primary School, and people using the town’s shopping centre.
Manager of the restaurant, Syed Azim, said: “This car park has been open a long time. During the day time Aldi are very, very busy, in the evening time we are very busy.
“We asked can you stop giving tickets after 5pm? They are not doing it.”
SNP councillor Ms Allan added: “They set this up last year because there was a lot of people parking there using it as a park and ride.
“Aldi got a lot busier because of people watching their pennies. It was basically to try and discourage people from parking there all day and blocking the car park for customers.
“It’s a contentious issue for some people.”
A spokesman for the car park management firm said they had been employed by the car park’s owner “due to people over-staying and preventing access to those who wanted to shop there”.
A system of taking the registrations of customers at Lasan has been in place since Parking Eye began operating.
He added: “Initially it appeared that some registrations were not passed on to us, resulting in parking charge notices unfortunately being sent to those restaurant users.
“As soon as we received their information we immediately cancelled their notices.
“We took the decision to cancel all notices and refund all that had been paid from the date parking enforcement had started at the location.”
Ticket enforcement has now started up again at the Westhill car park.
Customers from Lasan restaurant input their registration details via a terminal system.
Parking Eye can impose a maximum fine of £70 if shoppers outstay their welcome.
Mr Azim said: “At the moment there is a kind of touch screen we have to ask them (customers) their car registration number.
“By mistake if we don’t ask the customer their car registration number they’re going to get a ticket.
“I don’t think it’s perfect. What happens at the moment during busy time (on) Friday and Saturday – these two nights are really, really busy – one guy has to get his pen and paper and ask their registration number.
“I believe this is not the proper way to deal.
“Weather conditions are really, really bad at the moment. Last Friday a customer he had to go out again in bad weather.”
An Aldi spokeswoman said: “We currently use Parking Eye at our Westhill store to provide customers with two hours of free parking.”
Aberdeenshire Council said they could not reveal if they are carrying out any similar investigations, while Aberdeen City Council said they are not investigating “any such complaints”.
