Motorist wins parking fines fight

And Michael Derrick, 35, a plumber, is scathing about the local authorities involved. He said: 'I just want them to use resources properly and listen to residents.

'I'm doubly annoyed that I had already made a sensible approach to the county council who don't even issue the tickets themselves but sub-contract the work to NCP wardens.'

Mr Derrick, who lives in Murray Avenue, contacted the council in November. He knew that double yellow lines near his house were invalid because they were not subject to a traffic regulation order '“ but he still played safe by parking opposite them.

When he asked the county council for a meeting four months ago he was told there would be a site visit and consultation in eight weeks but nothing happened.

Mr Derrick said: 'Parking is at a premium here because of the main (Lewes] road. I've seen other people with tickets and told them to contest the fines but I'm sure the council has collected thousands of pounds worth of invalid tickets.

'It's galling when the wardens say they've been told they can ticket here. And all I got was a nonsensical two-line letter with the refund cheque '“ no whys or wherefores '“ when I know the fines were fraudulent.'

A spokesman for the county council said: 'There were some yellow lines in Murray Avenue that should not have been there a year ago and we met with this resident at the time to explain exactly where he could park and where he couldn't as well as cancelling some tickets he incurred while we removed those lines.

'The problem has long-since been fixed and we are confident the signs and lines now in place are perfectly legal.'