A grieving widow has accused the council of cruelty after her late husband was threatened with court action over an unpaid parking fine - seven weeks after he died.

Steve Dymond was sent a warning letter by Thanet District Council on February 14, telling him he faced enforcement proceedings if he failed to pay the £50 ticket.

But the 62-year-old - who was a victim of the infamous blood contamination scandal - had died on December 23.

His widow, Su Gorman, had called the council in January to inform the authority of her husband’s death after finding the unpaid ticket, even offering to clear it herself.

But she was instead told to go through an appeals process, before receiving the letter a month later.

“I couldn’t believe it when it arrived,” she said.

“When they sent it to him he’d been dead for about seven weeks and I’d told them twice that he had died.

“We were never refusing to pay the fine. He just died before he wrote the cheque.”

Mr Dymond had been given the ticket in Cecil Square, Margate, on November 20, after an appointment overran.

He challenged the ticket with TDC, citing his ill health and the reasons for the overstay, but on December 13 was told his appeal had been rejected and he had 28 days to pay up.

Eight days later he was rushed into hospital and died of total organ failure on December 23.

Ms Gorman says her husband had intended to pay the fine but his health had been deteriorating.

“He was very ill at the time and we underestimated how ill he was,” she said.

“He said to me he needed to pay the ticket. He bumbled off and I assumed it was done. This was all in the fortnight before he died.

“Christmas had come and gone and I was going through the papers and saw it was unpaid.”

Ms Gorman says she called the council to explain the situation and offered to pay the fine, but was told she needed to lodge a formal appeal.

“I sent off a letter and thought that was the end of it,” she said.

“They never asked for a death certificate, but I didn’t have one anyway.”

But four weeks later, a letter arrived for Mr Dymond threatening county court action and increased costs for enforcement action.

Ms Gorman called TDC again to explain her husband had died and to reiterate that she would pay the fine, despite the car being registered in his name.

A council supervisor checked the vehicle details with the DVLA while Ms Gorman waited on the phone.

“When she came back she said ‘it’s registered in a man’s name’,” she recalled.

"They need to look at the way they treat people... it's just cruelty and intolerable" - Su Gorman

“I said ‘yes, that’s my husband’ and she asked ‘can I speak to him to confirm security details?’.

“It really incensed me and reduced me to tears. I said I’d really like to talk to him as well.”

Ms Gorman has since submitted a death notice from the coroner to the council and is now awaiting to hear back from the authority.

She is now calling for the council to review how it handles similar situations.

“They need to look at the way they treat people,” she said.

“I’d like to protect anyone from going through this by making them look at their training.

“It’s just cruelty and intolerable. They need to apply some common sense.”

A Thanet council spokesman says the authority does not comment publicly on individual cases but confirmed when a person dies any outstanding penalty notices will be written off.

The spokesman said: “In the sad event that someone passes away, our policy is for the outstanding penalty charge notice to be cancelled.

“In order to do so, we do request that we receive formal written evidence of the death such as a copy of the death certificate.

“We understand that this can be a distressing time for loved ones and accordingly allow plenty of time for this information to be sent to us.

"Anyone who receives a letter from us in this situation should contact us at the earliest opportunity so we can provide them with this guidance.”