An Ilford Uber Eats delivery driver is appealing a parking fine for supposedly spending nearly 18 hours enjoying the ambience of the Aldi car park in Seven Kings.

Hyacinth Close resident Asif Hussain was enraged after receiving a £70 parking charge notice (PCN) accusing him of parking his Ford Focus in the High Road car park from midnight to just before 6pm on March 23 this year.

He insists that he only stopped in the car park briefly to collect a late-night order from the nearby McDonald’s and returned again hours later to buy himself a meal.

“I was really outraged,” he said.

“What do they think I would be doing in the car park for more than 17 hours?

Ilford Recorder: Asif Hussain with his parking fine at the Aldi store car park in Seven Kings.Asif Hussain with his parking fine at the Aldi store car park in Seven Kings. (Image: Archant)

“Sleeping in my car?

“I have got a house and a family to go to.”

The fine, issued by private company ParkingEye, does show side-by-side photos of Asif’s sliver hatchback entering the car park at 12.11am and leaving again at 5.57pm the same day.

However screenshots from Asif’s phone indicate that he took on a delivery job at thirteen past midnight and dropped it off at a home in Boundary Close, 15 minutes away, for the princely sum of £4.14.

Asif said that the car park cameras appear to have been installed only in the last few weeks and warns other shoppers not to get caught out.

“Private companies are trying to rip of and fool customers. I’m very upset and angry as I did nothing wrong,” he said.

A ParkingEye spokesman said: “ParkingEye is a member of the British Parking Association (BPA) and operates an audited appeals process, motorists are encouraged to appeal if they feel there are mitigating circumstances.

“In this case the motorist has not responded to any of the correspondence sent to him.

“If he has mitigating circumstances we encourage him to appeal and his evidence will be considered.”

Asked when he would submit his appeal, Asif said: “Bruv, trust me, I’m going to do an appeal tonight after I finish work at 11pm and I am going to win.”