Man claims he parked for free in town centre thanks to 'genius' parking hack... but there is a VERY big catch

• He attempted to apply the parking hack in a busy street in centre of Sheffield 

A man has claimed to have been able to park for free in a busy town centre thanks to a 'genius' parking hack. 

In a viral video, the driver showed himself and a friend testing out the hack that appeared to allow them to park for free in Sheffield. 

During the clip, filmed a year ago, the men find a way to obtain a parking ticket without paying a penny.

One man presses the red button on a ticket machine, before repeatedly pressing the green button until it a message pops up, reading: 'Ticket printing in process'. 

The machine then prints a ticket which says 'fee paid' - but without any payment being taken. 

The start time of that particular ticket was stated as 7:20pm with an expiry time of 8:20am the following morning. 

People were quick to herald the individual as a 'genius' in response but an updated attempt at pulling off the hack has shown that it could catch out anyone looking to secure a free parking ticket. 

After a YorkshireLive journalist decided to put the hack to the test, they raised concerns with the practice, revealing that it might not be such a genius find after all. 

They revealed that, as in the original video, they pressed the red button once before subsequently pressing the green button as many times as possible. 

They were shocked to find that, true to the original clip, the machine printed the ticket without a form payment needing to be submitted.

However, expecting over 12 hours worth of free parking, they were stunned to find that they had only been given 20 minutes instead.

The parking machine's terms and conditions clearly stated that anyone who purchases a ticket to leave their vehicle in an allocated bay is entitled to 20 minutes free parking per day.

This confirmed social media speculation in response to the clip, which saw Instagram users point out that the hefty length of time stated on their ticket was because it could have been obtained outside of the bay's charging hours. 

As a result, this means that they could have parked there for free anyway. 

In response to the clip being posted, users explained how this process could have come about, as they wrote: 

'Most likely in a 8am until 6.30pm zone, you get 20 mins free just by pressing the green button so it's just roll over to the following day'.  

'After chargeable time so the 20 free minutes roll over to the next day.'

'It's more likely that it was after the end of paid parking and it gives you 20 minutes free which will start from 8am.'