A motorcyclist has slammed a “hypocritical” council for refusing to cancel his parking fine after he caught one of its own vans parked in a restricted zone.
Trevor Hinckley left his bike on a small patch of sand next to West Beach Road, Shoreham, which is marked with double yellow lines, on August 8 last year.
On return he found an Adur and Worthing District Council fine attached to the handlebars, which said he had been parked in a “restricted street”.
“Since when did the beach become a restricted street,” he said.
“I was absolutely fuming that they gave me a ticket. I appealed it and they refused.”
Then in October Trevor spotted a district council car parks van left on a single yellow line in Station Road, Portslade, during restricted hours.
The 65-year-old said: “It made me feel even more annoyed when I saw the van as it’s just hypocrisy. They told me they were dealing with it internally.
“I said to them that surely, they can drop the charges by way of goodwill, but they refused. The fine is now at £100.
“It’s got me totally miffed. We’re just cash cows to them, a revenue raising scheme.”
The seven-month ordeal shows no sign of slowing down, as Trevor, from Portslade, prepares to take the case further.
“I believe that as a sovereign citizen I would take them to the court of mankind, I won’t deal with the legal system. I am a citizen, a man, and I’m not going to play ball," he said.
“I am sick and tired of them taking money from us.”
The district council van was spotted in Station Road, which is under the jurisdiction of Brighton and Hove City Council, on Friday, October 7, last year.
Vehicles are not permitted to park in Station Road between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
Adur and Worthing District Council said it would not comment on Trevor’s individual case or his appeal.
READ MORE: Councils issuing nearly 20,000 parking fines each day
“In regard to ‘one rule for the council and another for us’, we can assure residents that this is simply not the case," a spokesman said.
“As it is under a different authority, we are unsure what the restrictions are and are currently investigating the matter.
“But any council vehicle that is parked illegally is subject to exactly the same rules and the employee responsible would have to pay the resulting fine.”
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