A FILM fan has warned others using Trowbridge’s Odeon cinema to check the running times of films carefully, after a group of cinemagoers were caught out when watching space epic Interstellar.

The film runs for almost three hours – the limit of the free parking allowed outside the St Stephen's Place cinema in Trowbridge – and when Paul Streeting and other fans came out last Monday they found £60 parking tickets on their cars.

“It was the 12.30pm screening and we parked at 12.15pm. There were about 25 minutes of trailers, and when we came out at about 3.30pm there was a ticket on the car,” said the pensioner, who had driven over from his Bradford on Avon home.

“I wasn’t the only one; there were quite a few of us and we were all caught. I have appealed but it is not right; there’s nothing on the cinema ticket to warn you.

“I think Odeon should talk to the car park operator and I will be approaching them. The warden must have been hovering waiting for our tickets to run out.

“You don’t know how long the trailers are going to be and you can’t really come out of a film to put another hour’s ticket on the car.

“If people get parking tickets it will put them off using the cinema.”

Nick Price, general manager at the Odeon in Trowbridge, said: “We advertise the film length next to each listing published including the website and mobile apps.

“We also have a note on listings that this time does not include advert and trailer length, which varies between showings from five minutes to 25 minutes. Interstellar is 166 minutes long, not including adverts and trailers.

“The team is always happy to advise guests on the exact running times should they have this query. We don’t operate the car park at St Stephen's Place – this is run by UKPC.”