Was Hammersmith and Fulham Council right to fine me?

I have just done my bit to contribute towards Hammersmith and Fulham Council's admirable efforts to reduce council tax - by involuntarily adding £60 to its coffers after I was fined for doing something which inconvenienced no-one and was in fact contributing to the Hammersmith economy (and I live across the Thames in Richmond).

And it's all the more relevant that I write this on the day that councils' use of surveillance powers are under scrutiny as my supposed misdemeanour would not have been known about, had it not been for one of the many CCTV camera trained on King Street in Hammersmith.  

So what was it that I did? Quite simply, a few weeks ago, I parked my car (with me waiting inside it) for nine minutes in a loading bay, which - according to the letter I subsequently received (along with time-coded screen grabs of the CCTV footage) - was "not designated for that class of vehicle".

As I explained in my letter appealing against the fine:

"I needed to pick up some furnishings for my new flat from a shop on King Street and so drove there with my girlfriend. There was no parking space free, so I pulled up in the loading bay in which your CCTV has captured me - with the express intention of being able to 'load' said furnishings into the car.

"Aware of the fact it was a loading bay which might have been needed for commercial deliveries, I remained with the car throughout the nine minutes in order that I could move on had a lorry etc needed to pull up, whilst my girlfriend went to the shop. But no lorry, van etc. came - and as soon as my girlfriend brought our purchase back to the car, we loaded it into the car and went on our way.

"I had clearly pulled up and waited in the space in good faith. Would the council have preferred that I had spent an extra nine minutes polluting the local environment by aimlessly driving around?"

My appeal fell on deaf ears, which left me no option but to pay the fine.

So it leaves me wondering what has happened to that traditional British sense of fair play. The CCTV caught me, period, and there was no room for flexibility whatsoever. If I had been spotted by a policeman in the same loading bay before the age of the surveillance state, don't you think my situation would have been looked on sympathetically?

It also raises questions about councils' support for their local high street shops. After this experience, what motivation have I to return to King Street to do my shopping?