A SOUTH Woodford man is facing nearly £20,000 in parking fines after leaving his car on a 'broken yellow line' in an Ilford street.

Myles McDonnell, 33, now living in Queen Mary's Gate, was living in Roden Street, Ilford, between May and December last year and says he could not have parked the car anywhere else.

Mr McDonnell said: “There's another carpark nearby but I was clamped there and I didn't want to take the chance of getting clamped again.”

He believed parking restrictions in Roden Street would not be enforced because part of the yellow line has eroded away and successfully appealed against other tickets in June 2008.

Father-of-two Mr McDonnell, who works in IT, added: “There are other cases that are very similar, which have been upheld.

“In June, the council even suspended ticketing on this road because they can't maintain the line.”

He was issued a further 18 tickets after his original appeal but did not pay the fines, believing a second appeal on the same grounds would be successful.

But his second appeal failed, meaning the total penalty now comes to £18,000, or £1,000 per ticket, and bailiffs are now involved.

The car, which is registered as belonging to his father, Paul, was never towed despite receiving so many tickets.

Mr McDonnell said: “My dad's approaching retirement. It's very stressful for us – it's just not right.”

Since the second appeal failed in January this year, he has been battling to have the tickets overturned.

But time has now run to submit his evidence to an independent adjudicator and he will now have to give an 'out of time witness statement' in court.

Mr McDonnell said: “I don't know what we'll do if we're not successful. I can't afford to fork out £18,000.”

The Guardian is awaiting a comment from the council.