Council says sorry over ticket mix-up

Lambeth Council" class="imageframe imgalignright" height="130" src="http://www.shropshirestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/18sorry.jpg" title="Norman Edwards with the parking ticket issued by Lambeth Council" width="175"/>A Shropshire pensioner has been given an apology after he was issued a parking ticket in a London borough despite not setting foot in the capital for more than 30 years.Norman Edwards, of Prescott Road, Baschurch, was initially sent a parking fine with photographic evidence by Lambeth Council in March after they claimed he had parked illegally.

But the 75-year-old said that despite pointing out that the vehicle in the picture was a different make, colour and number plate, the authority failed to believe him.

After his fee jumped to a whopping £180, the pensioner got so fed up that he took the details into a Shropshire police station in order to resolve the matter.

Mr Edwards said: "I haven't even been there for 30 years and the photo they sent wasn't of a Freelander like mine but a Discovery which is totally different.

"I went to Oswestry Police Station and they rang them up from there. They told the police they had made a mistake over one digit, but we didn't get an apology."

Mr Edwards added: "It's not just an apology I want but also the cost of the expenses as well, but I'm not going to get anything."

A Lambeth Council spokesman said: "Mistakes like this are extremely rare but we obviously apologise for the inconvenience in this case."