Pensioner wins battle against council over resident's parking permits

A pensioner has won a battle against his local council after it tried to revoke resident's parking permits after 20 years, claiming they lived on a 'private road'.

For two decades, Richard Payne, has purchased an annual parking permit which allows him to leave his car within his postcode area.

This is due to the 'narrow' conditions of the road where Mr Payne lives on Florence Street, in Strood, meaning there is little room for parking for the 16 homes there. 

But in December, all residents were told they would no longer be able to purchase permits due to the address being 'a private road'.

Medway Council claimed locals never should have been entitled to permits - and this had gone unnoticed for 20 years due to 'a human error'.

But Mr Payne said the abrupt U-turn left him 'stranded' - and with 'no choice but to break the law' by parking his car illegally where it had always been left.

He said: 'It had proved impossible because the only place I could find to park was a road near me which is on a hill.

'But my wife could not walk there so I had to bring the car round to the road opposite our house each time so she could get in.'

Mr Payne decided to dispute the permit revocation and after an investigation, the Local Government Ombudsman deemed that the council had been at fault.

But since his permit ended in April, Mr Payne still had to face months waiting for this decision - which really took a toll.

The pensioner said: 'The findings were that they [the council] originally said it was an audit error.

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'Then they said it was a computer update that had removed Florence Street from the scheme in error and then it transpired that an officer overlooked the traffic regulation order which confirmed that my street was within the controlled parking zone.'

An agreement has been reached which states that Mr Payne will be compensated £100 for all the stress caused - and Medway Council must issue all residents affected with a parking permit free of charge for one year.

However, Mr Payne says that despite winning his case - he does not consider it a victory.

He said: 'I don't feel any satisfaction really. The tone of the letters and the dismissive way I was treated was just a shame.

'There was no effort at all to resolve it.'

He also says Medway Council found itself with 'a whole load of work' that has cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

Mr Payne continued: 'I'm not triumphant about this, I don't want to hold banners up.

'It's just a lesson for any council that you really need to do your homework before you start chucking your weight around - which is what they were doing.'

A Medway Council spokesperson said: 'Due to an administrative error, eligibility for a residential parking permit was incorrectly revoked and a complaint was upheld by the Local Government Ombudsman.

'As a result, we have compensated the resident and provided an annual residential parking permit free of charge.

'We would like to offer our sincere apologies for the error and the inconvenience and distress this has caused.'