A carer decided to pay an £80 parking fine in pennies after failing in her attempts to get the penalty overturned.

Maggie Gebbett, 63, was handed a parking fine after failing to pay and display in South Street, Bromley, in May.

The mother-of-two claims the hot weather made her £2.20 ticket peel off the car window.

She immediately appealed against the decision but despite months of wrangling with Bromley Council she was told in November that her £80 fine would increase to £120 if she didn’t pay.

So Mrs Gebbett, of Yester Road, Chislehurst, visited the civic offices in Bromley with her husband Martin yesterday (December 2) to pay the entire fine with a wheelbarrow filled with pennies.

She says that even after an adjudicating lawyer found her to be “an honest, credible and convincing witness” and said the fine should be cancelled, the council would not reconsider its decision.

The member of Chislehurst Rotary Club said: “I had to wait three quarters of an hour for staff to count all the money, I thought I was going to have another parking fine waiting for me!

“I am furious about the whole business and most upset about being criminalised when I have not broken the law.

“In fact, I did all I could to comply with the law - I paid and I displayed.

“If the gum on the parking ticket is not up to the job, that is not my fault.”

She added: “Going after innocent motorists is extortion.

“The qualified lawyer in London recommends that Bromley Council drop the charge against me. Why are they not doing so?”

It was revealed by News Shopper last month that Bromley Council made £1.1million profit from penalty charge notices in the last financial year.

News Shopper has contacted Bromley Council about the parking fine and is awaiting a response.