London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Motorist fined £650 after council ‘paints disabled bay around his car’

Motorist fined £650 after council ‘paints disabled bay around his car’

A furious motorist is embroiled in a parking row after being fined repeatedly by a south London council amid claims they painted a new disabled bay around his parked car.
Paul Cooper, from Merton, said he has now been fined £625 in a six-month-long battle with Merton council after parking wardens repeatedly penalised him while he was out of London visiting friends.

The 42-year-old claims council workers damaged the back of his vehicle as “someone leant under the car and painted on the new lines”.

Leaving his BMW opposite his home on September 18 he said he discovered the disabled bay had been extended underneath the car on his return on October 6.

He told the BBC that the council’s claim was “utter nonsense” after Merton issued five separate PCNs in the time he had been away.

“The council say that the paint from the old lines could not be removed without inflicting damage to my vehicle, and the back of my vehicle is completely ruined,” he said.

He added: “The resident who uses the disabled parking bay stated unambiguously that my car was parked before the bay was extended, as she and her son discussed at the time how unfair it was to the owner of the vehicle - which was me.”

In a viral Facebook post, he insists: “I know with absolute certainty that I parked my car on the 18th of September and next returned to it on 6th October.

“I know that I had returned from visiting friends in West Byfleet and have a credit card statement showing transactions from that trip. Considering I was told months ago that no work was even done in this period and that was later separately confirmed to my councillor, I am ‘satisfied’ that my record-keeping is better than Merton Parking Services’ and that they are insinuating that I am a liar.”

Merton Council said they had refunded all but one of the PCNs at their “discretion”.

A spokesman told the BBC: “We have fully investigated Mr Cooper’s claim that a disabled parking bay was extended underneath his car while it was parked in a non-disabled bay, and later allegations his car was damaged in the process of new lines being painted.

“Mr Cooper left his car parked in the same spot, in a parallel road to his home, for a number of weeks without visiting it or updating himself on the work to be carried out. Merton Council cannot be held responsible for him not reading signs notifying residents of the work, and efforts were made to get in contact with him during the weeks his car was parked.

“Despite Mr Cooper’s admitted knowledge and understanding of the PCN appeals process, he made the decision to pay the fines issued, which is a legal admission the contraventions occurred.

“However, at our discretion, we have decided to refund all but the initial PCN.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×