A retired postal worker has won a six month battle against a parking ticket wrongly issued by the council.

Last month Edward Lum was finally refunded £105 after Epsom Council revoked the penalty imposed for parking in Clayton Road, Epsom, in May 2014.

Mr Lum worked at the general post office there for more than 15 years and parked in the same spot, next to another parked car, for many years.

The council had claimed that it was in a special enforcement area - though failed to produce evidence of this at tribunal, and Mr Lum won his argument that it was not causing any obstruction.

After Epsom Council rejected his appeal, Mr Lum took his case to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal which ruled that "the alleged contravention did not occur".

He said: "It’s a relief because it’s taken a whole six months, but it’s worth it. It’s something I wanted to clarify.

I feel the council have been incorrectly issuing parking tickets. You can’t enforce it because it’s not blocking anything."

Your Local Guardian:

But he said he was still not happy as the council has not erected a sign there explaining the rules.

Adjudicator Hilary Tilby allowed his appeal and ordered the council to pay back the fine.

When rejecting his previous appeal, the council argued his car was not in a parking space and was parked more than 50 cm from the edge of the carriageway.

But Mr Lum pointed out that the quoted criteria said "enforcement only undertaken if obstruction is caused to parking vehicles".

The adjudicator said the council did not produce evidence to back up its claim that area was classed as a "special enforcement area".

Your Local Guardian:

An Epsom Council spokesman said: "The aim of parking restrictions is to increase the safety on the highway, reduce congestion and to improve traffic flow generally.

"They are not seen as a method of raising revenue.

"A penalty charge notice was issued as it was believed that the vehicle was parked in contravention of section 85 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

"On this occasion the penalty was revoked under the appeal process."