MOTORIST Sue Cooke is furious a penalty notice was slapped on her windscreen, because a warden said he wasn't allowed to scrape away snow to see the valid parking ticket underneath.

The sales assistant had parked on a car park in the centre of Leek during Wednesday's blizzards to avoid causing a traffic hazard on side streets.

But she was given a ticket by a warden employed by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council; even though her pay and display ticket still had two hours 10 minutes on it.

She is doubly angry the warden was able to prise the frozen windscreen wiper from her car to put the ticket on, but was not able to dust the snow off the window.

The mother-of-two will now have to go through the appeals procedure against the £50 penalty – at a cost to the council taxpayer.

Traders now say they fear over-zealous parking wardens will deter customers from visiting Leek in the run-up to Christmas.

Mrs Cooke, who works at WH Smith in Derby Street, Leek, confronted the warden later in the day, and he claimed he could not clear the snow in case he was accused of scratching her car.

The 55-year-old grandmother-of-two, of Fernwood Drive , Leek, said: "I was absolutely livid. He said he was not able to touch the car, but he was able to lift the frozen cold windscreen wiper, which must have been absolutely stuck solid.

"There was more of a chance damaging the car doing that, than wiping away snow. I showed him the ticket and he said he had not been able to see it because of the snow.

"There was an absolute blizzard that day. I bet I was not the only one to have got a ticket and I hope everyone else also appeals."

Other motorists, who were unable to move their cars from the town's High Street car park during heavy snow were also fined.

Vice chairman of Leek Chamber of Trade Marc Briand, who is the co-owner of Colloco, said the fine was 'outrageous' given the atrocious weather conditions on Wednesday.

He said: "It shows the appetite is for booking cars, rather than freeing up parking spaces and keeping the traffic moving."

Former Leek Mayor Steve Povey said residents had also been concened about traffic wardens preying on motorists parked on double yellow lines obscured by the snow.

He said: "They seem to have lost sight of their main priority and that is to stop motorists breaking the law and causing a traffic hazard.

"Someone in charge of them should sit them down and remind them they are ambassadors for the town and they are failing in their ambassadorial role.

"It is wasting thousands of pounds to contest these frivilously issued fines, which would never stick in a court of law."

Figures show 6,353 penalty charge notices were issued in 2009/10, compared with just 3,873 the previous year. That meant an increase in revenue from £96,900 in 2008/09 to £171,600 last year.

But 15 per cent of fines were cancelled last year at a loss to the council of £33,793.

A spokesman for Staffordshire Moorlands District Council said: "The council is sympathetic to Mrs Cooke's situation. However, heavy snow also causes problems for our civil enforcement officers as it can obscure the pay-and-display ticket bought by the motorist concerned.

"Should Mrs Cooke produce a valid ticket, the council would be pleased to cancel the penalty."