FRUSTRATED visitors to a busy car park next to Haddington’s Tesco store have hit out after they were incorrectly ordered to pay £70 fines.

While there are time restrictions on Tesco's own short-stay car park, the adjacent long-stay car park – which although accessed via the Tesco car park is a separate entity managed by East Lothian Council – does not have restrictions.

Now, a number of people have got in touch with the Courier after they were told to pay a £70 car parking charge notice, despite, they claim, not parking in the short-stay car park.

This is not the first time that motorists have mistakenly been issued with fines for using the long-stay car park – it previously occurred in 2013 and 2017 among other occasions.

READ MORE: Tesco apologises after parking tickets wrongly issued to long-stay car park users

The short-stay car park, which has a parking limit of three hours, is monitored by Horizon Parking.

READ MORE: Disregard Haddington Tesco parking warnings

One visitor, who asked not to be named, said: “Yet again, Horizon Parking are issuing tickets to drivers who have parked at the long-stay car park next to the Tesco car park claiming that drivers have breached the terms and conditions at Tesco Haddington.

“I parked in the long-stay car park run by East Lothian Council on February 2 to charge my car and received a car parking charge notice for £70.

“I have appealed this with Horizon and informed Tesco customer services explaining that I did not park in the Tesco car park.

“As access to the long-stay car park is through the Tesco car park, Horizon should think about moving their automatic number plate recognition cameras so they are certain they are targeting those who park in the Tesco car park rather than the long-stay car park, which is not under their jurisdiction.

“Looking online, I believe this has been an ongoing issue since 2015.”

A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council confirmed that the long-stay car park was operated by them and outside Tesco's and Horizon Parking's jurisdiction.

She said: “The council is aware of cases like this now and again, as automatic number plate recognition cameras are in operation which seem to make the odd error from people travelling through the Tesco part that have actually been in the long-stay all day.

“This is something which affected drivers need to take up with Tesco.”

A spokesperson for Horizon Parking confirmed an investigation would be launched into the issue.

They said: "We’re sorry to hear that drivers have received Parking Charge Notices (PCN) that may be incorrect. 

"We’ll undertake detailed investigation with our technical team to ensure the ANPR cameras are working correctly and without issue. 

"We would advise any drivers who feel the PCN has been issued incorrectly to appeal to us directly to allow for us to investigate into the issue."

Tesco were also approached for a comment.