Homeowners angry at parking fines for cars in their driveway

The cars getting a ticket are nudging out on to the path by inches - PA
The cars getting a ticket are nudging out on to the path by inches - PA

Motorists are being fined for parking in their own drives - because their cars are nudging out on to the path by inches.

Dozens of tickets have already been dished out and some drivers' cars are being hit with two or three fines a day.

They are suddenly being targeted because a new enforcement officer has been told to patrol wartime Roll Gardens in Gants Hill, Ilford, Essex.

And the warden's getting tough because bigger motors just creep out on to the pavement as the drives were built in the 1940s and aren't long enough.

Irshad Nabee, Roll Gardens Neighbourhood Association chairman, told the Ilford Recorder: "It's just stupid.

"Common sense should dictate that these tickets should not be given out.

"It seems like one new enforcement officer has decided to just walk up and down twice a day and ticket cars parked on their owners' drives."

Parking fines | When you do have to pay
Parking fines | When you do have to pay

Councillor Karen Packer said a residents' only permit scheme could be set up or all ticketing be suspended until a long-term solution is found.

"These residents have lived in this road for 20, 30, 40 years, and there's never been a problem.

"But now some people are getting two or three tickets a day, just for having a few inches of their car hanging over the boundary of their drive," said the councillor for Barkingside.

"Yes I can see that it is technically breaking the regulations, but why now?

"Surely common sense says this should be looked at because these drives are very short."

Cllr Packer branded it "appalling" that residents were having to face paying countless fines after being unfairly hounded.

Redbridge Council leader Cllr Jas Athwal admitted it looked as though the Labour-ruled authority had made a mistake.

Cllr Athwal said: "We've had this problem before in the opposite way - cars blocking pavements were not getting ticketed.

"I'll have to give the same answer now as then.

"If that vehicle is causing an obstruction, and if the pavement is narrow, then there will be a ticket issued.

"But if the pavement is wide, and the back wheels aren't on the pavement and there is only an overhang, then there shouldn't be a problem."

Cllr Athwal, who has paid four parking fines while in office, insisted that over-zealous wardens will be retrained if necessary.