A COUPLE got slapped with a £60 fine in a free car park because they stopped outside a Starbucks but visited the McDonald's.

Both restaurants are in the same car park, which has one entrance and one exit - and bosses use CCTV to track the movements of customers upon arrival.

Located in Southgate, near Stansted airport’s mid-stay car park, Kate Readman and her husband visited the McDonald's in the car park after a flight and only took 30 minutes in the one-hour free stay zone.

However while they stopped outside the Starbucks, they did not visit the coffee chain and made the 30-second walk to McDonald's.

MET Parking Services, which own the land, claim the car park is two different sites.

Upon receiving the fine, Mrs Readman did some research online and discovered that many others hand been stung by MET using CCTV to fine customers.

She told The Guardian: “We left the car and walked the 30 metres or so to the McDonald’s which is next door to the Starbucks, ate and drove off after around 30 minutes – well inside the allotted free hour.

“I genuinely could not believe it when I got the letter.

“But when I went online I found plenty of posts from others who had received similar letters. If this model were carried forward to other retail parks you would have to park directly in front of the shop you wished to visit and then move your car each time you wanted to go to another shop.

“It’s utterly ridiculous.”

Mrs Readman received her fine one month after she visited the car park, meaning it is likely to be unenforceable.

MET said in a statement: “The respective car parks are clearly distinct and separately signposted.

“There is nothing unusual about different businesses having their own car park or reserving free parking for their own customers.

“Should a motorist not be satisfied with the outcome of our appeals process they have the opportunity to appeal to the independent appeals service, POPLA, which is a free service.”