A HEREFORDSHIRE country park has defended its parking system after a series of complaints and bad reviews on social media.

Some angry visitors faced with £60 penalty charges for being minutes past their allotted time have complained over an ‘overaggressive and unfair’ system at Queenswood Country Park and arboretum.

But the park say the parking system is fair, regulated, and without it the park would not be sustainable in anything like its current form.

The shop and playground would go, paths would be unsurfaced, and the buildings and arboretum would decline.

The issue has been raised by Mrs Heather Thomspon, of Tupsley, who is furious after her daughter was hit with a £60 fine despite insisting she had bought a ticket and left within the time allowed.

Her daughter did not keep the receipt and the fine has been paid.

But Mrs Thompson says: “ As far as I’m concerned it will be money well spent if, having been made aware of your practices, I can bring this injustice to the attention of the relevant authorities as well as the general public and work to put a stop to a racket that is going on in plain sight in Herefordshire.”

Her letter of complaint has been copied to to local MPs, the local councillor, Wildlife Trust, Hereford Council and the British Parking Association, among others.

Attached to her letter are several critical; comments taken from the TripAdvisor website

But Queenswood say their parking system is fair, the signage is clear, and they follow standardized rules.

It is run on their behalf by Hereford-based Corporate Service Parking Management, who are members of the British Parking Association.

Queenswood estates manager James Hitchcock said: “Parking fees are about two thirds of our income and we just about break even.

“When we first took over the site we didn’t really enforce the, we were very lenient. And we found 60% of people didn’t pay.

“We decided to use a private company for car parking enforcement who are well versed in all the legislation.

“They tell us enforcement has to be treated as a black and white issue. People can appeal to the company and to the BPA.

“We would usually let people off first time if they made an error or one digit recording their registration details.

“The car parking is currently being audited and we would expect a good result from that. Wee take all complaints seriously, we want people to have a good time here.

“The vast majority of feedback we get is positive.

“Parking charges and enforcement is a very difficult issue because most people don’t like it, but we are doing what we can.

“We are currently looking at bringing in card payments and people can buy an annual pass for £60.

“Penalties have to be set at a deterrent level.”