A row has broken out over whether a parking warden - who appears to crouch down and hide to catch out unwitting motorists - is only doing his job.

CCTV images have been uploaded to Facebook, which seem to show the warden hidden behind large wheely bins.

Canterbury business owner Darren Clark says he spotted the warden crouching on his property to spy on the car parks opposite.

He says the warden works for UKPC, the firm which operates on behalf of Canterbury City Council at the Wincheap Industrial Estate.

Mr Clark, who owns Canterbury Plumbing Supplies, says he spotted the warden from his van as he approached the forecourt.

"I saw someone hiding behind my bins. I thought at first it might be someone lining up for a break-in," he told KentOnline.

"I went up to him shouting 'Oi, what do you think you're doing?' It was then that I realised he was a parking warden.

"I went up to him shouting 'Oi, what do you think you're doing?'" - Darren Clark

UKPC controls parking at Bamboo Tiger, Carpets 4 Less and Beds 4 Us - which is opposite Mr Clark's business.

The land is owned by the city council and leased out to the businesses.

As freeholder, Canterbury City Council is responsible for parking enforcement, and has contracted out to UKPC.

Signs on the site of the three businesses warn motorists that the car park spaces are for customer use only.

Mr Clark has since posted stills from CCTV footage capturing the incident onto an online city residents' forum.

The pictures have prompted another driver to contact KentOnline to say that a UKPC warden tried to ticket his car despite him using Beds 4 Us.

Gas engineer Nik Ross said: "I'm sure he'd seen me going in. We were in there looking at beds for about 40 minutes.

"When we came out he'd slapped a ticket on the car. I went up and had a word and told him we'd been in Beds 4 Us.

"The warden then took the ticket off the windscreen and said 'Ok, that'll be cancelled.'"

Mr Ross has suggested other motorists who have legitimately used the parking spaces to shop in the stores may also have been targeted.

UKPC hit the headlines last year when its operatives in another part of the country admitted faking timelines on their cameras to ensnare innocent motorists.

UKPC has been approached for comment. A spokesman said: "I can confirm that we are looking into this currently."

Canterbury City council has also been approached and is yet to respond, but leader Simon Cook said on the Facebook group he would make enquiries.