A woman has vowed not to pay a fine she was given while parked in a deserted car park.

Emily Snowdon parked on the almost-empty seventh level of the Airedale Shopping Centre car park in Keighley.

But because the tyre of her Seat Ibiza was on the line separating two bays she was given a £60 fine. Now she is furious.

Mrs Snowdon, a nurse, of Charlton Grove, Silsden, said: "On inspection, I agree that my tyre was on the line separating two bays.

"There was, however, only one other car on the entire other level of the car park, leaving approximately 56 other empty bays.

"On further investigation, I discovered the situation was the same on the next level of the car park, where again there was only one other car parked.

"On my calculation that leaves more than 100 free spaces in which people could park.

"I cannot believe that some over-zealous parking attendant has actually gone to the trouble of giving me a ticket for such a petty issue, when the car park was obviously not busy and my car was not causing an obstruction."

Mrs Snowdon, 29, said she was reluctant to send a cheque to the Birmingham PO Box given on the ticket until she found proof that the company was bona fide.

But Susan Mendoza, manager of the Airedale Shopping Centre, assured her that it was.

Mrs Mendoza said: "I have made the necessary checks and am happy that Central Ticketing is a proper company."

She said she had requested its services after experiencing a number of problems with motorists parking over two bays in the car park.

She said: "We couldn't just say people would only get a ticket on levels one, two and three. We had to enforce it over the entire car park."

The terms and conditions of the car park should be displayed at the entrance and Mrs Mendoza said it would be rectified if they were not.

Despite this, she added, a copy was always available from the office.

Inspectors photograph every car ticketed so Mrs Mendoza said she would be in touch with Mrs Snowdon for details of her vehicle registration number to check the suitability of the fine.

In the meantime she suggested Mrs Snowden follow the appeal process on the back of the ticket.

Jason Key, chief executive of Central Ticketing, which is based in Wolverhampton, said there had to be the same rules for each floor irrespective of the number of cars using it.

He said an appeal could be considered but that for now: "The ticket stands."