Parking tickets

I parked my car in a pay and display bay, paid for an hour (cost £1.50) and unfortunately forgot that I had done so - I normally can find free parking near this address. I remembered that I had parked in an unusual location after 1 hour and 15 minutes; the cost of an extra half an hour's parking is £1.00, so an equitable fine might be twice or three times that amount. However the council employ a massive number of parking wardens and so I have a nice £60 fine, generously discounted to £30 if I pay within 14 days. Yes, I can afford to pay the fine but what if I couldn't? Why the fuck should I be penalised to such an extent for such a small transgression? The way that councils work so hard to enforce parking restrictions is not far short of criminal. God I hate living and working in London, in fact the whole UK is a complete rip-off where parking is concerned. I was in a little village on the Bristol Channel a while back, quiet and serene, but the car park charged you something like £5.00 for 6 hours. Why? Grrrrrrrrrrrr