Council paints disabled parking spot around man’s car while he’s on holiday
The internet has been left divided after a man returned from holiday to discover four parking fines on his car
A London man has been hit with four parking fines after a disabled parking bag was drawn around his legally parked car while he was on holiday.
CCTV footage shared on social media showed a contractor measuring and painting a disabled parking space around a car, which was left on an unrestricted road outside the owner’s home.
The car’s owner, who goes by Silvastone on social media, returned to find four penalty charge notices between November 22 and 26.
“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,” he 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 accumulating.”
Though the disabled bay was reportedly installed following a request from a local resident, the driver said he received no advanced notice.
“It’s the same as doing an extension or any other road work – you let people know,” he said.
“Without any communication with your community, that’s the wrong way to do it.”
In a local community Facebook page, a woman who claims to be the resident that the bay was built for, demanded to know who was parked in the spot.
“This car has been parked in here for one week,” she wrote.
“The council put in a disabled bay for me and this car parked in there. It has two tickets already. Does anyone know who owns it?”
The post was flooded with comments from the community, with some even alluding to popping the tyres.
Others suggested it might even be stolen, while some branded it “selfish.”
The clip has since been viewed over 30,000 times, with many branding the scenes as “madness.”
“I’m so happy this was all caught on camera,” wrote one viewer.
“Imagine if you didn’t have a camera to prove this. Absolute madness,” said a second.
“Shambles. Absolute shambles. Glad you have evidence,” weighed in another.
Following the viral video, Croydon Council issued an apology – stating that the tickets had been cancelled a week before the footage was shared, but acknowledging a “breakdown in communication” because of their contractor and parking rangers.
“We were installing a new disabled bay for a resident, and we do allow some time for new bays to bed in before enforcing. We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused, and please get in touch if you have any queries,” the council wrote.
A spokesperson for Croydon Council told local media that the contractor took a photo of the car, so it would not be fined.
“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 tickets were cancelled a week before the video was uploaded to social media, and we have apologised for the confusion,” the statement said.
Originally published as Council paints disabled parking spot around man’s car while he’s on holiday
