Drivers feel they have been stitched up after being handed £70 fines for parking on double yellow lines – that had been painted underneath their cars.
People living at a block of flats in Swindon claim workers have been getting on their hands and knees to paint the lines underneath their vehicles while they are parked.
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There are five bay parking spaces which have been used by residents at the 35-flat block, George Hall Court, since it opened 25 years ago.
Last week, they say Swindon Borough Council put up signs warning that road works were going to take place in the parking area but said they were told by the council that double yellow lines would not be painted.
But the lines have been painted and two pensioners were fined within hours.
Don Connell, 70, who has lived in the flats since July, is refusing to pay.
‘This is discrimination,’ he said. ‘He [the line painter] has gone down on his hands and knees to come and do this.’
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His neighbour Colin Dent, 82, said he was also handed a fine for leaving his car outside after picking up his granddaughter from school.
He said: ‘I’m 82 – this is the first ticket I’ve ever had.’
Swindon Borough Council argue the yellow lines had ‘simply been restored’ as they had been painted outside the flats before they were re-developed ten years ago.
The council said a resident had complained that parking outside the block posed a ‘road safety hazard’.
But Maggie Hathaway-Mills, 65, vice-chairman of the tenants association at the flats, said: ‘People have been parking there since it opened 25 years ago.
‘That’s always been our allocated parking. Those five spaces are the only ones we’ve got.’
A spokesperson for the council said: ‘Unfortunately, for some reason the yellow lines on this particular section of the road were removed a few years ago.
‘We believe this was at some point during the Cavendish Square redevelopment.
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‘We recently received a complaint from a member of the public about cars being parked in Royston Road creating a road safety hazard.
‘It was then after examining our records that it became apparent the yellow lines had not been replaced.
‘Our workmen put out signs warning residents that the lines would be repainted two weeks before the start of the works.
‘These were repeatedly removed or vandalised with vehicles being parked in their place.
‘We appreciate the frustration of residents, but the parking restrictions are in place to ensure road safety and to allow traffic to flow freely along Royston Road.’
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