hi, many thanks for all your replies. No, there was no ticket on the car but I did unfortunately see a camera car - it was about 5 minutes or so before I parked, and it was heading in the other direction, but of course there could have been dozens of them patrolling. Incidentally I did leave out some of the words in my first post - it said "12 noon to 1 pm" but I was writing quickly. As to yellow lines, the only thing I saw was that in between the bays there were single yellow lines. I wish I was an expert in parking, I find it extremely confusing to know what is the right thing to do. If I do get a fine I will contest it, as I believe that in a decent country any signage should be absolutely clear as to intent, and I believe that sign is not absolutely clear as to intent.