A motorist has been fined £60 because of the position of his car wheels in a Parking bay.

Builder Robert Young was given a ticket while parked in a four-hour bay in Brighton, after a traffic warden said the position of his wheel valves proved he had exceeded the time limit.

Mr Young, 32, said he had moved his car from Walpole Terrace after just an hour, before returning to the same spot two hours later.

The traffic warden who issued him with a ticket said because the position of his wheel valves was the same at 11.10am as at 4.18pm, he must have been parked there all day.

Mr Young said: "It is madness. I have been issued fines before and I have always paid them but in this case I know I should not have to.

"The traffic warden has no concrete evidence I was parked for more than four hours, only the valve positions.

"Although it is unlikely the valves would be in exactly the same position when I re-parked, it is certainly not impossible.

"This basically means if people reverse their cars a few inches, they can park in a bay all day because the valves would be in a different position."

Mr Young lost his appeal to Brighton and Hove City Council and last month the decision was upheld by the National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS), even though he had submitted statements from the clients and friends he visited when he left the bay.

A letter from the council, informing him of the appeal decision, read: "The parking attendant made notes of the vehicle's nearside valve positions at two occasions spanning a period of over four hours, at 11.10 and 16.18. At each visit, the front nearside valve position was observed as 9 o'clock and the rear nearside valve was observed as 4 o'clock. As a result, it was deemed the vehicle did not move during this period."

Despite the appeal decision, a council spokeswoman said attendants gather a range of evidence.

She said: "Parking attendants use a variety of methods when issuing tickets, including looking at valve positions.

"They may also take photographs and consider other anecdotal evidence."

Mr Young, however, was unconvinced.

He said: "I feel as though I can't win. Now I may have to pay the fine because I cannot afford to go to court or risk a further increase."