A MAN has been slapped with a fine and points on his licence after a parking mistake.

The driver of a silver Ford Focus was handed a £100 fine and three points on his licence after he "dangerously" parked on white zig-zag lines in New Milton's high street.

Officers were patrolling the town on foot when they came across the car and eventually found the driver who had parked it on January 3.

A spokesman for New Milton's police said: "Some may think it is a trivial matter, but as people have been seriously injured and killed over the years because of illegally parked vehicles blocking the view of pedestrians using the crossing, the team will deal robustly with any drivers who park their cars in dangerous positions like this."

Meanwhile, minutes later, the officers had come across somebody believed to have shoplifted after £152 worth of vodka was stolen from a nearby supermarket last month.

A 38 year old male of no fixed abode, was arrested and taken to custody. He will be appearing at Southampton Magistrates' Court on February 1.

New Milton police's spokesman added: "Although we have been bringing a lot of positive outcomes for our recent shoplifting incidents, the beat team here at New Milton deal with a variety of other incidents that are reported to us, not just shoplifting reports.

"The force currently have a priority to deal robustly with shoplifting offences and this is leading to more positive and advertised results across the two counties.

"The teams at Lymington and New Milton have always taken shoplifting reports seriously due to the impact that they can have on local businesses and associated issues that shoplifters bring to the town, such as assaults on shop staff."