Council accused over Games parking ‘insanity’

Parking row: resident demands compensation. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

A family who were served with four parking tickets and had their car towed away, despite apparently having a valid parking permit, are asking for an apology and compensation from Hackney Council.

Tom Werber and his guests received three tickets outside his home in Victoria Park Road on 5 and 6 August, and on 8 August he returned home to find his mother’s car had disappeared.

The director and animator said his first thought was that the vehicle had been stolen. He was forced to retrieve it from a car pound at a cost of £265.

Prior to the tickets and tow away, Mr Werber had spoken to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to ask about Olympic parking rules and was given virtual visitors’ permits and told that they were the correct ones for his postcode.

He said a warden had told him their computer system was often not working and that in such instances they issued tickets as they could not check whether the permits were valid.

Mr Werber, who is contesting the tickets and fine, said the experience was “like something out of a Franz Kafka novel”.

The council said it had received Mr Werber’s appeal and was investigating his complaint. LOCOG said the issue was a matter for the council.