A man with dyslexia from Falmouth who was fined even though he used only half his allotted time at Custom House Quay car park, says he feels he has been "mugged in broad daylight."

Ian Smith received a penalty charge notice in the post after he mistakenly typed in the wrong registration, getting two digits transposed, but he is not the only person taking issue with the way the car park, which his owned by Falmouth Harbour Commissioners, is being run.

Several people are complaining as it appears motorists are being timed from the moment their vehicle passes the camera at the car park entrance, rather than when they actually buy a ticket. Even the mayor, Greville Chappel, has fallen foul of the system.

It took several minutes for him to get into a parking space and buy his ticket, and then he was delayed exiting the car park because a delivery vehicle blocked the way. As a result, the camera clocked him as being over five minutes late and he was fined.

Mr Smith's situation though was entirely different as he had bought an hour's ticket at 11.04am and left the car park at 11.25am, but found himself penalised because his dyslexia led to him inputting the incorrect registration. Despite two appeals and a letter to the harbour commissioners, he is being told his fine still stands. What's more, because the appeal process took longer than two weeks, the penalty charge has risen from the original £56 to £100, but Mr Smith is adamant he is not going to pay it.

"I didn't even use half an hour," said Mr Smith, of Trelawney Road. "I had only gone to Tragos to pick up some pieces after my back door had been broken into and before I went to hospital where my wife was having an operation for cancer.

"I was obviously stressed, which makes my dyslexia worse, and I mistakenly typed in the wrong registration. If I had not paid I would gladly have paid the fine, but as I told them, I made a genuine mistake."

Mr Smith, head chef at the Membly Hall Hotel, believes the whole system is wrong. "It's like some kind of Dickensian process," he said. "It's as if they are trying to catch people out.

"As someone who has lived in this town all my life and serves the community as best I can, I think it's absolutely appalling and I can see no justification for it whatsoever. People are being mugged in broad daylight by a system that is set up to fail people. How many other innocent people are being fleeced by it?"

His wife Sarah, an English teacher, added: "It is despicable and they are surely breaking the equalities act by not taking into account Ian's dyslexia. One hundred pound! That's our Christmas food money."

The Packet has also been contacted by James K Hale, who is warning motorists to be vigilant. "Having received a PNC notice, the notice time of issue of tickets do not correspond with the times stated on the tickets themselves," he said.

"I'm am dealing with my appeal and luckily I have the original tickets as issued from the machine but am very concerned that other customers may well be unaware of the timing differences on the tickets issued and, I am assuming, the camera system used to police the parking time at exit. I do wonder just how many customer are being wrongly fined."

In response, harbour master, Mark Sansom said: "We are aware there have been some issues for customers using the new car parking system on Custom House Quay. As the parking machine uses automatic number plate recognition technology, we do remind people to be very careful when entering their car registration details, as the system will automatically generate reports if these do not match the details on the vehicle.

"We have made it clear to the contractors that we do not wish our customers to be penalised due to simple keying errors and have asked them to ensure that this is reflected in their operation of the appeals process."

He added: "We would encourage anybody who receives a ticket in these circumstances to appeal in the first instance using the contact details provided on the parking charge notices that they receive. We are interested in hearing from anybody who has had an appeal turned down when they have paid to park for the correct period of time.”