A driver says he’s been left ‘really upset’ after the council painted a disabled bay around his parked car and fined him four times.
The individual from London has shared CCTV footage on social media of a contractor painting the bay around his car on a road outside of his home.
He said his car was parked in the spot from 22 November to 26 November in New Addington while he was on holiday.
“It really put a damper on my holiday because I kept checking [the camera] to see what was wrong and there was nothing I could do,” the person, who didn’t want to be named, told BBC London.
“I didn’t want to go out and do the things I wanted to do because I was worried about the amount of tickets I was accumulating.”
The vehicle owner said he had two penalty charge notices (PCNs) on his windscreen and two more which were removed by the time he got back from his travels.
Croydon Council cancelled the fines a week before the footage was shared on social media and has since apologised for the incident.
They explained that the road markings were put in place due to a ‘response to a request from a resident’ on 17 November.
“It’s the same as doing an extension or any other road work – you let people know,” the person complained.
“Without any communication with your community, that’s the wrong way to do it.”
The vehicle owner said it ruined his holiday (YouTube/SILVASTONE MUSIC)
A council spokesperson said: “The contractor painted around a car, as is standard practice, otherwise they would have to wait for the space to be free, which may have taken weeks.
“The contractor took a picture of the car, so we knew not to give the owner a fine.”
They added: “Unfortunately one of our parking attendants was not informed and issued parking tickets.
“However, these were not processed into fines because we had a note on the system from our contractor.
The council said they were responding ‘to a request from a resident’ (YouTube/SILVASTONE MUSIC)
“The tickets were cancelled a week before the video was uploaded to social media, and we have apologised for the confusion.”
As reported by Your Local Guardian, a local explained in a Facebook group that the bay had been installed for her.
“This car has been parked here for one week,” she wrote.
“The council put in a disabled bay for me and this car parked in there. It has two parking tickets already for no badge sign. Does anyone know who owns it?”
