Leisure centre users slapped with £50 fines for parking where they say they were told they could, have branded the situation a “farce”.

A sign on the wall of Glaslyn Leisure Centre in Porthmadog explains that leisure centre users do not need a ticket to park and if they enter their registration number in a book at reception they will not be fined. But users have been fined, and one woman has received three parking tickets in four months.

Karen Davies of Morfa Bychan has successfully challenged all three parking tickets, but she says the situation is ridiculous and she should not have to keep writing letters to get them overturned.

Karen received fines in July, August and October.

The fines demand payment of £50 within 28 days, or £25 within 14.

The fines are processed by the Wales Penalty Processing Partnership (WPPP) on behalf of the council.

In one letter challenging a fine, Karen said it has always been her understanding that members can use the area of the car park opposite the leisure centre entrance, free of charge, as long as they leave their car registration at the desk.

“It is my understanding that the leisure centre car park is for staff and visitors with mobility issues,” Karen said.

Along with the letters, Karen also sends a print out of her classes from her Gwynedd Council account, and explains that further proof can be obtained by contacting the desk where her car registration number has been logged.

“I find it most distressing and troublesome to be accused of wrongdoing when all I was doing was observing the rules,” she added.

In a third letter to WPPP, Karen said: “This upsetting experience in all down to official incompetence. It is obvious that departments to not correspond with one another.”

Margaret Lewis contacted the Cambrian News on behalf of a group of disgruntled women who are fed up of being fined.

She said: “We are a group of people using the Glaslyn Leisure Centre in Porthmadog regularly and quite a few of us park in the public council car park as there is not enough room in front of the centre and we have been told to give staff and disabled people priority.

“This has always been the case and there is a plaque on the centre wall saying this is allowed.

“We also sign a form inside with our car details yet a number of us are constantly ticketed.

“Everyone writes in, fines are cancelled and the following week it all happens again - and to one woman three times! It’s very upsetting for us all.”

Margaret added: “Most of us are in our 70s and we can’t walk to the leisure centre from where we live. The situation is getting so bad now that one woman has stopped going to the leisure centre. It’s upsetting and it’s putting people off.”

Gwynedd Council has apologised for the mistake.