A grieving daughter was shocked to discover she had been issued a £100 parking fine by the hotel where she hosted her father’s wake.

Helen Granger, from Broadstairs, was already struggling to tie up her late father’s affairs when she received the penalty from The Botany Bay Hotel.

Ms Granger, an equipment lifecycle manager, said the fine added to her stress at an already difficult time, but she assumed the hotel would help her sort it with her receipts as proof she was a genuine customer.

She said: “When I first opened the envelope my heart started racing, I was thinking 'God, what have I done?'. Then I looked at it properly and I felt upset and stressed. I thought 'it’s OK, I’ll email the hotel and they’ll sort it out for me'.

“I think the stress built when I realised they weren’t going to do anything about it. They were quite happy to take the money and hold the event for us but they weren’t quite so happy to support us after the event. The customer service just wasn’t there, it felt very impersonal.”

Helen spent the two weeks before the funeral rushing to put it all together to make sure it could be held on October 26, which would have been her father’s 87th birthday.

The Botany Bay Hotel was chosen by the family for the wake because they had plenty of nearby parking for elderly guests who have difficulty walking, as well as a desire to support local businesses.

The car park at the hotel does not require users to buy a ticket, but vehicles must be registered with the hotel.

One of Helen’s guests at the event also received a fine and together they felt confident the hotel would help when approached with evidence they were customers on the day.

However, Ms Granger was initially told by both The Botany Bay Hotel and Shepherd Neame they could not help her as the car park was controlled by an outside contractor.

The business maintains the requirements to park there are very clearly stated on signs visible throughout the premises.

Ms Granger said: “At no point did anybody tell me we’d need to register our cars when booking but mistakes happen, we’re all human. All they keep saying to us is ‘there are plenty of signs’ but they are assuming everyone can read and they are assuming people aren’t distracted.

“Not many of us actually left the function room so we wouldn’t have seen the notices. We would have seen them on the way to the function room but we weren’t looking around, just focusing on where we were going and they never said a word, they just took our orders and our money.

“I could just pay the fine but I’m just upset about the behaviour. It's like they have no responsibility for it. It's really sad for a hotel to behave that way.”

The fine was issued on November 22 and after refusing to help for almost two weeks, Shepherd Neame has now confirmed the penalty has been cancelled.

A spokesman said: “Due to the limited number of parking spaces by the Botany Bay Hotel, and its proximity to the beach, we contract an external company to manage the spaces so that they are available for our guests.

“We have taken every effort to ensure guests are aware that they need to notify us of their car registration upon arrival with extensive external and internal signage, and our team members also offer verbal reminders.

“After Ms Granger’s situation was brought to our attention, our team have contacted the parking company and arranged for her penalty charge notice to be cancelled.”