spent "20 seconds'' inside the Civil Air Terminal.

And there was not even a sign warning him not to stop at the entrance to the departures lounge, claimed Mr. Allan Turini.

But Airport manager Mr. Lawrence Lachapelle has defended Police, saying the loading area was abutted by a yellow-painted curb and was not a parking zone.

Mr. Turini, 33, said he stopped quickly in front of the departure lounge when he dropped off a friend of his girlfriend who had visited from Baltimore.

He shut off the motor and got out to carry her suitcase into the Airport, Mr.

Turini told The Royal Gazette .

A Police officer approached and told him he could not park there, he said.

"I said, I just want to take this bag inside for her, and I'll be right out,'' Mr. Turini explained.

But when he returned seconds later, an officer was writing him a parking ticket. Mr. Turini, who admitted he was extremely angry, ended up with additional tickets for not stopping for Police and using offensive words.

He said he was treated unfairly. "The Police should have showed me more respect,'' he said. "Where's the compassion?'' Mr. Lachapelle said he encouraged Police to enforce the parking rules.

"We do have a fairly difficult time with people coming to drop people off,'' he said. "At the busiest times of day, it can cause us a real problem.'' There was no sign, and the road surface was not painted, but a yellow curb was recognised in Bermuda as a no parking symbol, he said.

"If that proves to be insufficient, we might have to consider some additional means to emphasise the message that it's a loading curb only. "A vehicle should never be left there.''