PARKING attendants are using a "sixth sense" to predict motorists' movements in High Wycombe, according to concerned drivers.

The accusation came after a driver was fined for parking in Harlow Road, High Wycombe, despite buying a ticket and returning to her car an hour early.

Andrew Knight told the Free Press that his wife was "astonished" to find a fine from National Car Parks, (NCP), slapped on the windscreen even though hs wife had bought a four-hour parking ticket.

Mr Knight, of Rushbrooke Close, said: "She found a parking fine with a very feeble excuse that they (NCP) had reasonable cause to think she would be staying longer than the four hours for which she paid.

"How they came to that conclusion is beyond me.

"They do not, I believe, have special powers to see into the future. They are just trying to book as many people as possible."

The fine was issued at 1.23pm on May 17, more than an hour before the expiry time on the ticket.

Anne-Marie Goodbody, parking services manager, said she could not comment on individual cases.

But she told the Free Press: "What has probably happened is our parking attendant had reasonable cause to believe a payment had been made to extend the car's stay beyond expiry of the time initially paid for."

But the news of NCP's actions did not go down well with motoring organisations, who labelled the penalty "nonsense".

Sue Nicholson, head of campaigns for the RAC Foundation, said I did nothing for the image of parking control.

She said: "You do not issue parking tickets based on a sixth sense. You do so on hard fact. That sort of thing brings the industry into disrepute. I would demand an immediate inquiry."

She added: "Efficient parking control should be about keeping our towns and cities free moving, not about ticketing cars and raising revenue."

NCP, which polices the town centre on behalf of Buckinghamshire County Council, last month denied claims that penalty notices are linked to incentives such as bonus payments.

However, under the company's policy, attendants can be rewarded for the number of correct fines issued.