COUNCIL officials wrongly fined a Blue Badge holder for parking in York city centre - and then insisted they were in the right when she objected.

City of York Council only admitted Liz McArthur should not have been issued with a penalty charge notice for parking in Deangate, near the Minster stoneyard, after she formally appealed.

Now her husband Ken is asking how many other Blue Badge holders have been wrongly fined for parking there, and has called for them all to be given automatic refunds. Mr McArthur, of Wigginton, said the problems arose after Liz visited the city centre for the first time since the pandemic began.

“On her return to her car she found a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) attached to her windscreen saying she had parked in an area where No Loading was permitted at that time,” he said.

The ticket said a £70 penalty charge was payable for "parking in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force".

Mr McArthur said his wife paid up after her initial objection was dismissed by a council administrator, who wrote: “The points that you made in your letter have been carefully considered and I write to advise that you have not established grounds for cancellation.

“The penalty charge notice remains payable because you were parked during a loading ban.”

Mr McArthur said his wife immediately appealed as she strongly believed she had parked correctly, according to the rules of parking for Blue Badge holders.

“She went back to the area she parked to see if the required kerb markings and signs were displayed only to find that there were no signs on either posts or walls, nor were there yellow lines on kerbs. One or both are required to be in place to enforce parking restrictions on Blue Badge holders.”

He said his wife sent a photo showing the yellow kerb marking clearly painted out with her appeal, and a different council official then admitted the restrictions did not extend to this part of Deangate, writing: “I am pleased to inform you that your objections have been accepted and the above penalty charge notice has been cancelled. The loading ban does not extend down to where you were parked, therefore the penalty charge notice should not have been issued.”

Mr McArthur said his wife now expected a full refund and apology but was concerned about how many other Blue Badge holders had been wrongly fined. He suggested what had happened was an example of "very poor training" of enforcement officers.

Dave Atkinson, council head of programmes and smart places, said the PCN had been issued in error. “As the vehicle displayed a blue badge, the vehicle was not in a restricted area of Deangate,” he said.

“On initial assessment of the evidence, the objection was dismissed. Further investigation at the appeal stage led us to resolving that this was in fact a mistake. Following this, the PCN was immediately cancelled on Thursday, May 20.

“The council is confident no other PCNs were issued in this circumstance. We wish to unreservedly apologise for any inconvenience and distress caused by this and have written to the customer to that effect.”