A TikTok star from Burnley was left in tears after a 'terrible' experience at a car park in Manchester last week.

Lauren Saddington, who owns a princess party business and makes videos for her 500,000 TikTok followers, was forced to pay £44 for parking at Manchester Piccadilly Station.

She is now calling for better signage and staff training so the same thing does not happen to anyone else.

APCOA Parking, the company which owns the car park, said they have since apologised to Lauren and offered her a full refund.

Lauren, 26, was at the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premiere in London on Monday (June 26) and had paid £20 for 24 hour parking in Manchester.

After getting back to the car park at 1am and putting her ticket into the barrier, she was told by a member of staff that she had gone the wrong way and would need to pay an additional £24 in order to leave.

She said: “It put a dampener on my night, I was on cloud nine because Harrison Ford was at the premiere which I couldn’t believe - but it all went downhill when I got to the car park.

“I paid £20 for the 24 hour parking, even though I was planning to come back the same day.

“I took my confirmation email to the customer service desk and they gave me a ticket to put in the machine.

“I followed all the signs to get out, put my ticket in the machine and it opened the barrier.

“The man on customer service ran out and said I had gone the wrong way and that I couldn’t be let back through unless I paid an additional £24.”

Lauren, who only had her business card on her at the time, said she was told she would have to walk home if she could not pay the additional fee.

She said: “I told him ‘I have no money’. And he said ‘Well what do you want me to do? You’ll have to walk home’.

“He was saying to a young girl ‘you have to walk home’ at 1.30am’, because I went the wrong way.  If I didn’t have my business card what would I have done?

“He had no way of letting me through the barrier without paying for it. At this point I was crying because I get overwhelmed in situations like this.

“It is such a simple mistake and he knew I had already paid for the 24 hour parking.”

Lauren, who hosts the Not Always a Princess podcast, said the experience has left her feeling angry.

She said: “I made a genuine and honest mistake.

“At the time I felt like I was doing something wrong but now I have reflected on it, it’s crazy how a young boy was left on that desk and couldn’t contact anyone higher above him about it.

“Usually I drop complaints but I am really angry about it.”

Lauren has asked for a refund and hopes changes can be made so nothing like this happens again in the future.

She said: “I worry about what would I would have done if this happened when I were younger.

“Imagine if this happened to someone else and they had to walk home, it could have been a disaster.

“I think the signage needs to be clearer because I did follow the exit signs.

“There needs to be better planning in place. The young boy in charge was all on his own and should have been able to phone his manager.

“There should also be better care for customers in place as in that moment I was distraught.”

A spokesperson for APCOA Parking said: “APCOA sincerely apologises to Lauren Saddington for her experience, which does not meet our usual high standards of customer service.

“We received her complaint only two days before you contacted us and were already in the process of taking swift and appropriate action to avoid such a situation happening again.

“This includes staff re-training and a review of the signage at the car park.

“An apology has already been provided to the customer and a full refund is in progress, both for the original booking and the additional payment made.”