'I got locked inside an underground car park - then slapped with £100 fine'

A university professor has told of her distress at getting locked inside a car park - fearing she would be trapped inside all night. Rachel McLean drove into the car park not realising that just minutes later it would be locked for the night and not reopen until the next morning.

As she went to pay for her parking session, she struggled to get the card machine to work on the parking machines and so tried the parking App instead. But she could not connect to that either, and did not have £6 in cash to use as the alternative payment.

After failing to find a way to pay online, she decided she would have to leave and find another car park - but at that point realised the shutters had gone down and she was locked inside.

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She was only able to "escape" when a resident of the adjoining apartment block came into the car park and let her use their fob to open the shutters. But Rachel couldn't believe it when she then received a £100 fine in the post after failing to pay for the 28 minutes she was trapped inside.

She is now planning to appeal the £100 Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) with parking firm Parkingeye. The Manchester Evening News asked the car park operator for comment - bosses said "19 prominent and highly-visible signs providing information on how to use the car park responsibly".

Rachel is speaking out about her experience to encourage others to always check before using unfamiliar car parks