A COACH driver has slammed a “stupid” parking company after he was slapped with a fine as he slept in his vehicle.

Benn Nicholls said he “could not believe it” when he found he had been issued with the notice by One Parking Solutions for not parking in a designated area.

He said the entrance to the area, marked with two heavy metal bollards, was far too narrow for his coach to fit.

He said: “I could not believe anyone could be that stupid to think a large coach could fit into one of the designated areas.”

Benn, 38, who lives near North Chailey, had been picking a school group up from Stanmer Park, Brighton, on July 5.

Benn said: “I arrived early so I looked for somewhere to park for an hour to have my break as I had just come from another job. I drove around the park and saw the designated spaces but because of the size of my coach I could not fit into the narrow gaps to enter the car parks .

“So I pulled up on a grass verge off the road, sat down and fell asleep.

“Later, I woke up and went down to the point to pick the kids up from the sports day event, when one of the teachers said ‘look mate, you have a parking ticket on your windscreen’.”

He said he appealed against the ticket, issued by Worthing-based company One Parking Solution, but was told this had been rejected and the fine had been passed on to debt recovery agency ZZPS Limited.

Benn said: “They now want £170 from my company, who have told me I will have to pay for it out of my wages.

“I have two small children and cannot afford to pay such a fine, especially when they put another £70 administration fees on top.”

Benn said his fine had gone straight to debt recovery without him or his company being notified. He said he had been told by One Parking Solution he had been sent a letter, but never received anything.

He claimed the company “makes its own rules up” and “needs to be shut down”.

Gavin Price of One Parking Solutions said: “I have looked into this case and the vehicle was parked on the grass which is in direct contravention of the displayed site rules. It is the driver’s responsibility to park in a safe manner without contravening the clearly displayed rules.

“The original parking charge notice (PCN) was left on the windscreen which was ignored by the driver and the company was posted a notice to keeper (NTK) on August 7 and an appeal was received the next day in response to the NTK.

“The appeal was declined on August 20 and the driver had the option of either appealing further to Parking On Private Land Appeals or paying the PCN.

Both options were ignored. The appeal reply letter was emailed to the email address given on appeal and posted so there is no excuse that it wasn’t received.

“One Parking Solution is fully approved by the British Parking Association and conducts all operations at a high standard.

“The fact the driver was operating a coach does not give authority to park on the grass, I’m unsure why the driver feels this is the case.

“The site was recently audited by the BPA and the site was deemed compliant and One Parking Solution was thanked for raising the standards within the industry.”