MOTORISTS are urged to correctly display their parking tickets after figures showed that many people given fines had paid to park.

Cotswold District Council (CDC) has made the plea after new statistics showed that motorists issued with fines at car parks had paid to park but failed to display their tickets correctly.

Even though the tickets can be cancelled when appealed, CDC is concerned about the amount of time and effort involved for both the public and parking administrators.

CDC cabinet member for parking matters, Cllr Chris Hancock, said: “Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) working for APCOA Parking UK Ltd check to see if people have paid to park, and when they see tickets displayed incorrectly – usually face down – they have no way of telling whether they are valid and must then issue a PCN.

"For this reason, we would be very grateful if motorists could display the tickets correctly in their windscreens and save themselves the trouble of contacting APCOA to cancel the fine.

“Another option is to pay by mobile phone – the number plate is then logged automatically and the CEOs can check online to ensure that the parking fee has been paid. Details are displayed at each car park.”