Parking Ticket (10 replies)

After bad week for the Blues I managed to get a parking ticket.
I actually live in Northampton.
In short it is an NCP car park. I arrived and bought an hour's ticket (no one stays long in Northampton town centre).
I battled with the ticket machine as it would not accept my coins so I ended up paying £2 instead of £1.20.
I returned to my car approximately 4 minutes before the ticket expired.
I left the car park not thinking about it anymore and did not retain my ticket.
Then 18 days later received a parking charge notice.
It would appear that they timed me from entrance to the car park to exit.
By their calculation I overstayed by 5 minutes and 18 seconds.
Of course I have appealed this.
I returned to the car park and took pictures of the information board's. These do not state that your time commenced on entering the car park. I asked other motorists if they were aware that this was the case-all thought that it was the time on the ticket that was the deciding factor.
Very angry. Would appreciate any thoughts?