Man ‘wasted year of his life battling £145 fine – for parking on own drive’ | UK | News


A furious man says he’s wasted a year of his life battling a £145 fine – for parking on his own driveway.

Aftab Mahboob was handed the penalty last summer for driving in a bus lane – which he has to do in order to park on his driveway in Romford. The 45-year-old repeatedly appealed the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) until it escalated to £145.

Once reviewed by a parking adjudicator, the fine was cancelled. But furniture maker Mr Mahboob fumes he’s lost a year of his life successfully appealing the charge after five attempts.

He says other neighbours have received similar fines for parking on their own drives – which are ruining their lives.

One terminally ill woman, who has now sadly died, resorted to walking down the road to get picked up after her sister became too scared of getting another ticket for parking outside her home, he claimed.

Mr Mahboob says he’s “disgusted” at his and his neighbours’ ‘immoral’ treatment by the council in fining them to park at their homes.

He is now demanding an apology from Havering Council over the fine.

He said: “It was a year of my life. It’s the inhuman side that I’m really bothered about. It’s a big deal. There are a few of us who get the tickets.”

“It’s quite important to sort it out – otherwise we would get parking tickets every time we parked on our own drives. I turn into my drive 30 metres from where I started to pull in.

“Havering Council were nothing but aggressive. They kept sending me letters asking if I knew about the Highway Code. It felt patronising.”

Mr Mahboob was accused of driving in a bus lane and was issued a fine by the London Borough of Havering in June last year.

But he successfully argued the manoeuvre was necessary to access his driveway, and the parking adjudicator reviewing his appeal agreed.

“The appellant stated that he was gaining access to his house or the entrance next to it that he rents,” adjudicator John Lane stated. “The local authority’s Traffic Management Order creates an exemption to do so.”

In response, Havering Council argued the mistake was down to a ‘difference of opinion’ between one of its officers and Mr Lane.

“Our officer had to make a judgement as to what was a reasonable length of bus lane to use,” a council spokesperson said. “The adjudicator has ruled in favour of the resident and the council respects this outcome.”

However, Mr Mahboob is not satisfied with this explanation and believes he’s owed an apology from the council.

“This is really wrong,” he said. “I got a fine for parking on my own drive. I’ve lived here 16 years but the camera has just been put up.

“My father’s a bus driver so I have massive respect for them. We all want to get by, but this is just a money-making scheme.

“We are law-abiding citizens and that camera is deliberately put there; it’s perfectly placed and people don’t have the time to fight the fines. People are probably just paying fines because they’re scared of the repercussions.

“Every time I wrote a letter it took me a week to write because I was working in the day. People don’t have that time and the council know that.”

“My neighbour’s sister – 84 years old – got a fine from the same camera. She was too scared to get another fine and would park in a car park nearby [after receiving the fine] and have to walk her sister to her car for her cancer treatment.

“The sister had to make her walk to the car park. You should be able to pick up a frail old woman. When you’re old and in chemotherapy you shouldn’t have to do that.

“But after getting the first fine she wouldn’t park there again. Her sister had to spend the last six months of her life having to walk to the car instead of getting picked up outside her home.

“She never got to see the end of this fine, but she would have been really happy about it. Another neighbour, an NHS dentist, also got a fine. I believe both of their fines were for driving in the bus lane as well.”

“There are people doing 90mph on the same road, but they’re bothered about us parking on my own driveway.

“I’ve heard nothing back from the council. Not even a ‘Sorry for your time’. They don’t really care. I find it quite disgusting, to be honest. It’s quite immoral.”

A spokesperson for Havering Council said: “The Council always looks to carry out any parking and traffic enforcement in a fair and balanced way.

“This is to help our roads be as safe as possible to use and to keep traffic moving.

“Enforcement acts as a deterrent to those whose actions could be dangerous or illegal. In this case, there has been a difference of opinion between the Council’s officer who assessed the appeal and the adjudicator.

“Our officer had to make a judgement as to what was a reasonable length of bus lane to use. The adjudicator has ruled in favour of the resident and the Council respects this outcome.”

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