A Weymouth couple who have been visiting the South Hams for over 30 years may not return after parking their campervan at the Quayside in Kingsbridge and receiving a fine even though they bought a ticket.

Geoff and Rachel Williams bought a ticket but didn’t realise that their vehicle was too big to park there.

They believe they should have been advised where they could park before being quickly issued with a penalty by the civil enforcement officer (CEO).

In correspondance with South Hams District Council Geoff wrote: “I accept that I was not parked wholly within the marked bay, but this practice is often tolerated in other places particularly where there are no longer bays.

Mr William said it appeared that campers were “banned from Kingsbridge.”

“There are a number of very good campsites in the South Hams, all of which rely in part on camper vans for their living, but such vans do not appear to be welcome off the sites,” he said.

“It is unlikely that we will bother to drive through the area again as it is now virtually impossible to stop even for an ice cream or some fish and chips.”

South Hams District Council in their correspondence to Mr and Mrs Williams said this was a large vehicle which had been parked outside of the bay, partially blocking the thoroughfare.

They said whilst they understood why the couple might feel aggrieved and “targetted” nothing underhand had taken place.

“As you will be aware, the CEO role is to ensure the Terms and Conditions of the car park are followed accordingly and issue a PCN (penalty charge notice) if a contravention of the Terms and Conditions has occurred.

“With regards to your comments explaining ‘if he had advised us that the way we had parked was not acceptable we would have moved to a more suitable location and not wasted money on an invalid ticket’ of course, in the first instance we always encourage education over enforcement but in this circumstance the CEO has said he didn’t see you until after the PCN was issued.

“At this point he cannot rescind the PCN and therefore the opportunity to ask you to move was not possible.”

The letter from South Hams District Council parking team concluded that the fine was correctly issued and the charge of £25 stood.