A BUILDER who received a parking fine three hours before his late residents' permit arrived is demanding a £120 fine is withdrawn.

Neal Evans, 49, lives in Addison Road, which is part of the Wanstead controlled parking zone.

He wrote to the council asking to renew his permits on his family’s two cars 17 days before they were due to expire.

But the permits did not arrive on time and, while Mr Evans used visitor scratchcards in the window on the day his old permits lapsed, he forgot the following day and was ticketed.

He said: "I have been on to the council about this for weeks.

"It took them six days to email me the forms and I sent them out the next day.

"When the permit expired and I still hadn’t received the new permits I called them but after waiting 15 minutes I got fed up.

"My new permits arrived a few hours after I got the tickets, but there is no reason why I shouldn’t have received them in good time.

"I have appealed, but the whole process has been very frustrating and cost me unnecessary and valuable time."

He has been urged to stick with the process by Victoria Goodsir, 31, who lives in nearby Dangan Road.

In April this year she received two parking tickets after her permit was delayed in the post. She said: "The council rejected my appeal on both tickets.

"But I found out last week that my neighbour, who had exactly the same issue, went all the way through to adjudication and won."

Figures released by London Councils in August this year showed that no other borough saw a higher percentage of tickets overturned on appeal to independent adjudicators than Redbridge.

Mrs Goodsir added: "I’m gutted that I didn’t take it on, but they warn you that if you lose your appeal you might have to pay double and I just couldn’t afford to take the risk.

"I am bitter about it because as far as I can see I did nothing wrong and the fact that my neighbour had his fine overturned, proves that."

A council spokesman said: "The application form that residents sign when they receive a permit clearly states that residents are responsible for renewing their permit and that we advise that they begin the process of renewing their permit at least three weeks before it expires.

"In this case the form in question was not received by the council until 12 October and a permit was sent to the resident on 22 October, comfortably within the three weeks suggested and the council’s standard 10 day policy.  The cars in question received tickets as they were parked without a vehicle permit in an area which required them.

"As ever, the council would encourage any resident who feels that they have been issued with a ticket incorrectly to appeal and the council would consider any mitigating circumstances in the event of a challenge."

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