by Hayley Robinson

hrobinson@thekmgroup.co.uk

A motorist has blasted traffic wardens for giving him a ticket despite a town parking meter being out of order.

Gary Johnson left a note in the windscreen of his vehicle explaining he was unable to buy a ticket from the machine in the Sittingbourne Library car park, Central Avenue, as it was broken.

But when he returned to his car recently he found a fixed-penalty notice attached to the window.

Mr Johnson, director of business banking for NatWest, said: "The parking warden was by the machine and I spoke to her and gave her my registration number which she noted. There was no other meter in the car park.

"I left a note which said ‘2.20pm – your parking meter quotes not in use therefore I am unable to process the period of up to four hours required’.

"That was left in my windscreen and I went off and came back at about 3.45pm and there was a ticket on my car.

"Treating shoppers with such disdain means it’s another reason for people not to go into Sittingbourne to do their shopping."

Mr Johnson made his way to Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, to complain about the incident but claims he was told there was nobody available.

The married dad of one, from Newington, said: "I was quite amazed really that at 4.15pm on a Friday they had nobody senior there to speak to me. It was only after I was very insistent that Brian Planner [head of service delivery] came down.

"After explaining the situation he said he would get the ticket waived and they would write to me. Since then I’ve received a bog standard letter saying they will look into the matter."

A spokesman for Swale council said: "When Mr Johnson came into the office he spoke to Brian Planner, so there was an officer available.

"At the moment the ticket is in the appeals process."

Speaking about Mr Johnson’s claims that town centre trade could be affected, the spokesman added: "Our parking officers are just enforcing the parking restrictions in the borough. If people stick to parking in the designated spaces and not exceeding ticket times then there should be no concerns to visitors."

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