Fake parking tickets are being dished out in a town centre.

A number of phoney Penalty Charge Notices were placed on vehicles properly parked in Broadwater Down, Mount Sion and Goods Station Road in Tunbridge Wells yesterday.

More showed up later on vehicles in Langton Road and Bayhall Road.

Motorists contacted Tunbridge Wells council to complain, only to be told the council had not issued the tickets.

The authority released a warning via its Twitter account, saying: “Fraudulent Parking Charge Notices. If you’ve got one on your car – report it to the police and definitely don’t click on any links/QR codes.”

It follows an incident last year, when a bogus parking ticket was issued to a motorist in Morley Road, Tonbridge

Fake tickets were also issued in Argyle Road, Sevenoaks, back in 2019, although then it was clearly the work of a local resident angry at outsiders parking in resident parking bays, rather than a criminal looking to defraud people of their cash.

Kent Police confirmed that they had received complaints of alleged fraudulent parking tickets from vehicles in Broadwater Down, Tunbridge Wells, and Langton Road, in Langton Green.