The Slough council probe began when a 41-year-old Langley teacher took his case to the adjudication body NCAS and had his £60 ticket overturned. He heard this week that because the council had decided not to contest the matter at adjudication the penalty had been quashed.

The motorist was stunned when a penalty notice arrived by post in November claiming his car was parked in a controlled zone on a Saturday afternoon.

Included with the penalty was a picture of the yellow ticket on the car windscreen and a picture of a sign appearing to show the restricted parking hours.

But three other signs which were closer to his parked car only specified parking restrictions from Monday to Friday. The teacher fumed: "I had to fight every step of the way because a warden issued an erroneous ticket.

"I can't believe I had to go all the way to adjudication to get this case properly reviewed."
The investigation comes after Express reports of motorists' fears that parking attendants were issuing dubious tickets in a bid to increase profits.

The Express has been contacted by residents with tales of frustration caused by their parking woes.
Thames Valley University IT student Asif Aslam is angry that he was pursued for nearly a year for a parking fine he had paid within days.

The 31-year-old settled his ticket with cash on February 10 last year, after getting a ticket for dodgy parking in the Uxbridge Road. But he received two letters over the last year saying the fine was now £90 and demanding he pay.

It was only last month that he complained again, showed them his receipt and got a written reply acknowledging the mis-take.

"I paid cash and yet got a letter six months later so it is lucky I still had the receipt or I would have been out of pocket," he said.

"I cannot believe the council was trying to demand money for no reason. "I had to sort this out before I started getting to the point of court summons."A council spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately both the parking attendant and appeals officer made a mistake [in the case of the Langley teacher]."We have apologised and launched an investigation into what happened to make sure it does not happen again." 

source: http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk