DRIVERS who parked their cars in a York street returned to discover double yellow lines had been painted around them – and they had been fined.

The no-parking measures were introduced on the city-centre commuter hotspot Eboracum Way by City of York Council this week, with about 30 cars being slapped with fixed-penalty notices on the first day while their owners were away.

One furious driver, who parked his car in the street before the markings were painted and returned that evening to learn he was being fined £70, has vowed not to pay and to challenge the penalty in court if necessary, saying not enough advance warning was given.

But the council said the first set of work had been done where no cars were parked and was now being completed in other areas, adding that notice of the lines being painted had been provided.

Stockbroker Paul Lumley, 48, who lives in Wistow, near Selby, and works in Bootham, said he had been leaving his car in Eboracum Way for about a year due to the lack of other free parking in the centre of York, and had already handed in a letter of objection to the council.

“There is absolutely no way I am going to pay this fine because I don’t believe the way this has been enforced is legal,” he said.

“Myself and others had no warning at all and there were no signs to indicate what was happening in a prominent place on this road. If it had just been my car which received a penalty notice, I would have accepted it was my fault for not looking, but when about 30 other cars have also been ticketed, it’s clear any warnings were not clear enough. People don’t just go around getting parking tickets for the fun of it.

“I will go to court and risk paying a higher amount if necessary, because as far as I am concerned, the way the council has gone about this is crazy.”

Dave Carter, the council’s head of network management, said drivers who felt they had been wrongly issued a ticket should contact the authority, saying: “The council always notifies motorists in advance of any planned roadworks.

“Notifications were placed on Eboracum Way on October 18 to give motorists as much advance warning as possible. Large information signs were then also placed at the entrance of the street on October 21 to warn drivers that parking had been suspended to enable works.

“Unfortunately, a number of drivers did not respond to our advance warnings, so parking tickets were issued.”