A Dover businessman has alleged that a traffic warden is running a campaign against him.

Angry John Rose claims the official has become a thorn in his side after dishing out £225 worth of parking tickets.

But when he decided to take action to prove his claims against Tracy Edwards, the 47-year-old ended up in court.

Rose – boss of The Accommodation Shop, in Worthington Street – was quizzed by police and later convicted of harassing Ms Edwards... and told to pay her £75 compensation.

Now he has launched an appeal against the conviction by Dover magistrates, who also ordered him to perform 120 hours of unpaid work for the community.

Ms Edwards complained the businessman swore in front of her and took photographs as she worked.

But Rose claimed all he was doing was trying to get evidence the traffic warden had handed out a penalty notice on his vehicle - but ignored another car that was parked illegally.

He said he told her: "Hey, I know I had parked on a double yellow line, I won't deny that, but can I point something out? Firstly, I believe you have been discriminating against me."

"He was an angry man who was venting his anger, but I thought that his remarks hurtful..." - traffic warden Tracy Edwards

Rose - of Northbourne Road, Great Mongeham, near Deal - said that he pointed out another vehicle parked in a one-hour only zone for 24 hours had escaped a ticket.

"I said it was in an area where I had previously received a ticket and I said are you going to do anything about it? To which she replied: 'There is nothing I can do' and something to do with the lines and with that she walked away.

"Now I was shocked by this because I have had a traffic warden give me a ticket in that area for parking over the hour, so my immediate reaction was to go an take a photograph of the vehicle to prove my point.

"And because the traffic warden had left the area. It wasn't done to harass her, but to point out that she had left the area without doing her job."

He said he later spoke to a police officer to tell him his intention in filming her was "to point out the injustice".

But Ms Edwards had alleged that on a previous Rose had called her a "******* sl*g" and once intervened when she was ticketing a taxi driver in Deal, saying: "She doesn't deserve to breathe!"

But Rose told the judge and magistrates at the appeal at Canterbury Crown Court he "totally refuted" the allegations.

Ms Edwards said there were four alleged incidents starting in July when she issued a ticket to Rose's Peugeot. He said to have come out of his business and told her: "You could have knocked!"

She then claimed he went "stomping up and down the road", going into other shops calling her "a sl*g” and a "vile creature".

But Rose said: "I never went around like Wee Willie Winkie abusing the traffic warden.

She also claimed that on another occasion he told her: "God help your partner... if you have one... although with all that walking and you are still a fat ******* *****."

She told the hearing: "He was an angry man who was venting his anger, but I thought that his remarks hurtful."

Ms Edwards added that when she saw Rose filming her she felt intimidated and walked into an area covered by council CCTV and reported the incident to her bosses.

The businessman denied making the remarks, but admitted that after being spoken to by police about harassment decided to photograph the traffic warden to prove he was being picked on.

The hearing was adjourned until next month.

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