TWO siblings are warning drivers of "entrapment" by a private parking company.

UK Car Parking runs a private car park in Caelum Drive, off Hawkins Road in Colchester.

The road is made up to a number of privately owned flats, and a few shops.

Celia Lawton-Livingstone visited the Asian supermarket there one afternoon.

She was there for about 20 minutes before she came out and saw an enforcement officer writing out a ticket for £100.

She said: "When I drove in I was expecting to see signs or double yellow lines, but I didn't see anything.

"The signs are really high up so you can't see them from the car.

"I had to park there as I walk with two crutches and there is nowhere closer to park.

"I paid the fine because if you pay within 14 days it is less, but we are contesting it."

She said the signs need to be made more visible.

She added: "As they are constantly catching people it's like they are fishing for them."

Her brother Andrew Lawton, an ex-traffic warden, said he is writing a letter to get the fine revoked.

He said: "The signs need to be positioned in a way so they are readable from a moving vehicle.

"It's very much like entrapment. My sister was told she didn't have a valid permit and was not parked in a marked bay.

"It's prejudicial to the businesses there as no one is going to come back again if they get a ticket.

"My sister was not impacting on the resident parking in any way.

"I went down there to speak to people who had parked there and they didn't know about the fines."

After speaking to businesses he was told they had been given a couple of permits to hand out to customers, but the customers would not know they needed to ask for them.

He added: "I really think people need to be made aware.

"There is a money making attitude to civil enforcement, it's all about how many tickets you can issue and for me that is wrong."