A MOTORIST who was unable to buy a parking ticket because the machine would not accept the new £1 coin was stunned after she was fined – despite leaving a note on her windscreen.

Sheila Russell was at John Muir Country Park, Dunbar, on Sunday when she discovered the machines would not take the new type of £1 coins she had brought to pay the £2 parking fee.

She left a note on the inside of her windscreen, alongside the money and a previous ticket, explaining that she had been unable to buy a ticket.

Despite this, she returned from a dog walk to find a parking attendant had issued her with a penalty charge notice.

Sheila took to social media to express her dismay at the incident.

She said: “UNBELIEVABLE! We meet for a dog walk at John Muir Beach. The machine doesn’t accept the new pound coins. I leave a note in the car and the money in full view explaining and I still get a bloody ticket.

“I am not paying for their inability to keep up with coin changes. Many of us in the same boat. I was more than happy to pay my £2.”

Sheila, from Tranent, appealed to people to share her photograph, which quickly went viral with nearly 1,500 shares on Facebook.

She told the Courier that she had no problem paying the £2 ticket fee had the machines accepted the coins.

She said: “I was more than happy to pay my £2 parking charge as I actually agree with the policy; however, I expect to be provided with the adequate facilities to do so or at the least be informed through social media etc that this is a problem.

“I understand the warden is only doing his job and the council, like the rest of the public sector, are working under huge difficulties. In this day and age, however, it takes seconds to communicate information that can be dispersed or at the least stick a sign on the machine.”

The Courier revealed in April that upgrades to machines at East Lothian’s coastal car parks, which would allow them to accept the new £1 coins, introduced in April, were not expected to take place until the summer.

Two new ticket machines which were installed at Yellowcraig and Longniddry Bents can accept the new coins but the remaining 13 machines, introduced two years ago, need to be upgraded.

Following the reaction on social media, Sheila said she had been told the machines were not scheduled to be upgraded until July.

Coastal car park charges were introduced in the summer of 2015 but no fines were handed out until East Lothian Council introduced its private parking attendants at the end of January this year.

Thr first three months since the launch of private traffic wardens saw more than 2,200 penalty charge notices issued, with an estimated one in three handed out at coastal car parks.

Councillor Stuart Currie, leader of the SNP group at the council, said he was appalled by the decision to fine the motorist given she had clearly left a note and cash in plain sight.

He said: “It is unbelievable and highly embarrassing.

“People want the parking attendants outside our schools and in town centres, not hiding in bushes at coastal car parks to issue tickets like this.

“It is clear they are under orders to make as much money as possible.”

Ray Montgomery, the council’s head of infrastructure, said the local authority was “actively exploring” the introduction of alternative payment methods, for example using mobile phones, but he said in the meantime they were waiting for upgrades to be carried out to allow all machines to accept the new coins.

He added: “We are hopeful that this work will be carried out as quickly as possible.

“In the meantime, notices have been fitted to machines, where necessary, advising that the new coin is not accepted. If an individual receives a penalty charge notice (PCN) they are entitled to challenge the ticket through the PCN challenge notice procedure.”