FINES worth a total of £4,600 were slapped on the cars of motorists left confused by the new Marlow Sainsbury's car parking machines, figures reveal.

Angry drivers contacted the Free Press after being given £50 penalties at the council run Central Car Park, behind the revamped West Street store.

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They bought a parking ticket and displayed it on their dashboards only to discover later that the piece of paper was in fact a refund voucher for the supermarket.

Initially, sheets of paper were printed from the machines in two separate parts. The first was the discount voucher, the second the valid parking ticket.

Drivers who spoke to the Free Press said they were totally unaware of this.

They said the refund vouchers looked just like a normal pay and display ticket, containing information on the time and location for their stay in the car park.

Wycombe District Council changed the machines after motorists contacted officials, saying the tickets had caused confusion.

Yet, appeals against fines have been rejected.

Freedom of Information Act stats requested by the BFP have this week come back showing 92 drivers were caught out by the machines from December 1 and December 20.

A total of 168 fines – carrying a £50 maximum charge - were issued because the motorist had not clearly displayed a valid pay & display ticket.

This is how the official parking contravention is recorded.

Of these, 92 were issued due to a refund voucher being displayed instead of a valid pay and display ticket.

However, in its response WDC said: “For context, 15,003 pay & display tickets were purchased in the car park over the same period and therefore only 0.6 per cent of ticket sales related to drivers incorrectly displaying a voucher.”

Were you one of those left confused by the machines?

Leave your comments below or email bfpnews@london.newsquest.co.uk.