MY complaint last week over parking regulations in High Wycombe struck an unexpected chord with a colleague just a day after I wrote the piece.

Marlow reporter Nic Brunetti found himself on the end of a £60 fine despite innocently buying what he thought was a perfectly valid ticket.

Busy Nic was on his way to cover a court hearing when he parked in Saffron Road next to the open air car park off the London Road. A sign told him to go and get a ticket from the machine, and the only machine he could see was one nearby in the car park.

"The actual meter I should have used was black, it was small and a hedge obscured it from my view," he told me.

So our man incorrectly paid £1 for a Wycombe District Council ticket which he stuck on his car. This would have given him two hours parking.

Nic, however, was away less than half-an-hour from his motor and was shocked to return to a penalty notice stuck on his windscreen.

The £60 fine was issued by Buckinghamshire County Council, which is responsible for the parking on the street, as opposed to Wycombe District Council which looks after the adjacent car park.

Confused? Nic certainly was as he immediately stormed into the county council offices to launch a formal appeal.

"I did not deliberately flout the regulations, so I'm not happy about paying such a large fine for what is an understandable and innocent error," he moaned.

"I am prepared, however, to give the county council the price of a normal ticket for my stay. To show how reasonable I am, I won't even be asking Wycombe District Council to reimburse me for the ticket I bought in error."

Nic has now been told his appeal is being considered, so we will have to wait for the outcome.

However, it strikes me that he shouldn't have been booked in the first place, especially after such a short period, because he had a valid ticket on his windscreen.

It must have been obvious he had made an error, otherwise why would he have bought another council's ticket in the first place?

Not only are the rules harsh, but it is also bewildering to most motorists that two different local authorities police neighbouring parking sites.

It shouldn't matter that Nic paid the wrong council.

The fact is he gave his money to local government and that should be sufficient.

Of course, in strict liability terms, he was wrong and he hasn't got a leg to stand on.

But local government is there to help the public, not to catch them out.

So I trust his fine will be revoked, but I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, last week's column also stuck a chord with reader Andrew Phillips, of Amersham Road, High Wycombe.

Andrew felt it encouraging he was not alone in "Feeling like a felon at the car park".

He said: "Parking in High Wycombe is about as easy as winning the lottery; only in this case the numbers definitely keep coming up for the council in their coffers.

"First, you have to be lucky to find a spot anywhere near where you want to be, then you have ridiculous timing issues and outrageous costs to face, but then you face a dreaded parking inspector just waiting to pounce on you and destroy your shopping experience.

"I am beginning to think the councils really don't want us in the town at all."

Sorry Andrew, have to disagree with you there. Of course they want us.

Because what would they do without all that lovely parking revenue we provide?