A NORTH-EAST businesswoman is reeling from a double blow after receiving a parking ticket - and then a littering fine after allegedly dropping it.

Michelle Finch, 44, of Gateshead was given the £30 ticket for parking in a loading bay in March last year.

Gosforth magistrates were told yesterday that she was on a shopping trip in her Mercedes with son Joshua, 12, when she parked without paying in Scotswood Road, Newcastle, where a daily charge of £30 applies.

Newcastle City Council enforcement officers Bob Beattie and Michael Brooks were on patrol at the time and put the parking ticket on her car windscreen.

In court, they said that Mrs Finch removed the ticket and dropped it on the ground.

Asa Anderson, prosecuting, said: "The officers say that this female made no attempt to pick the parking ticket up and simply got into her vehicle and drove off before Mr Beattie could fix a separate fixed penalty notice for littering."

Mrs Finch, who set up the football shirt company Toffs with her husband, had planned to challenge the littering charge.

She had compiled weather reports from the day and planned to call her son as a witness, but after a mix-up with court times, she failed to turn up to the trial and it was proved in her absence.

In a letter written to Newcastle City Council contesting the decision to fine her for littering, Mrs Finch said she tried to remove the ticket while sitting in the car with her seatbelt on but it blew off.

At the hearing yesterday, Mrs Finch was ordered to pay a fine of £50 for littering, as well of court costs of £400.

She will be appealing against the conviction