An elderly couple returned to their car and were shocked to find they also had a ticket and, since posting a message on her Facebook site, other friends have come forward saying they too have been fined for exceeding the time limit at Westfield malls.
Ms Hofland is now pleading for Westfield to make signage clearer or, even better, remove the time limits from its carparks.
"[In] these low socio-economic times you would think they would encourage customers to malls not [to] drive them away with a bad experience.
"I'm not going back there unless I absolutely have to."
Westfield spokeswoman Debra McGhie said the fines were introduced to deter people who parked at the mall, despite not shopping there. The fines were chosen over other deterrents, such as wheel clamping and towing.
"Signage is displayed throughout the car park outlining the permitted parking limits for various areas of the car park."
She said shoppers who wanted to stay at the mall longer than the P240 maximum time limit were encouraged to visit the customer services desk on arrival to discuss making arrangements to extend their visit.
Ms McGhie said the mall understood some people ended up spending a bit longer than expected shopping, or sometimes didn't see the signs.
In those cases people like Ms Hofland should go back into the mall and speak to management which will consider waiving the fine if there is a reasonable excuse for exceeding the time limit.
"Any bone fide shoppers who can attest to shopping at the centre who have appealed their parking infringement notice have been successful in having had had their infringement notices cancelled."
Ms Hofland has written to Wilson Parking, which issued the ticket, and is waiting to hear if her fine will be waived.
