Fines fury over fake yellow line
 | | Gilbert Dyet with the fake yellow line this week Picture: Tony Gay |
PARKING wardens in Muswell Hill have been slapping tickets on cars legally parked just off the Broadway, after a wobbly yellow line was illegally painted in a back road.
Wardens have been treating the badly-painted line on the west side of Hillfield Park Mews as if it were any other restricted area, fining people a minimum of £40 for parking there.
The situation was only uncovered when grandfather Gilbert Dyet, 76, a Muswell Hill resident and former chauffeur to the Queen Mother, confronted Haringey Council after being fined in April for parking his blue Mercedes there.
It took the council five months to admit it was in the wrong and refund his money, and customer services advisors assured him the line had been burnt off the tarmac.
But despite Mr Dyet's request, the council says it will not refund other drivers caught by the yellow line unless they appeal personally. The line was still there when the Journal visited on Tuesday afternoon.
"I realised that it wasn't a proper line," said Mr Dyet, who has spent his whole life as a chauffeur. "It was not the same height and it was very rough and wobbly. There were no signs."
He added: "I asked them if they had removed the line and they said yes, but it's still there. I also asked them if, now that they realised the line was illegal, whether they would be refunding all the tickets they'd given illegally to drivers who had parked there.
"They said drivers were welcome to appeal. They also said all wardens had been informed about it, but while I was up there [on Tuesday] I spoke to a traffic warden who said he had never been told."
Mr Dyet added: "It has got difficult over the years because there are so many notices and signs. Technically you could get a ticket while looking for a signpost with the restrictions."
A spokesman for Haringey Council said: "We are working with Mr Dyet to resolve the situation to see if there are still illegal lines in the area.
"Like any other ticket, we would ask anyone who thinks they may have given an incorrect ticket to contact us.
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Muswell Hill
Journal News |
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