A MOTORIST is calling for ‘deceptive’ parking signs to be changed after winning an appeal.

Gary Thomas has won an appeal against Parking Ticketing Ltd, which fined him £60 after he parked in a residents-only section of a car park at Station Gate, in Laindon.

Mr Thomas argued in his appeal that the spaces allocated for residents on one side of the block bore a near identical warning sign to the pay-and-display section right next to where he parked, meaning it would leave many motorists confused.

He initially assumed it was an error, but only realised the subtle difference in the signs when he got back home.

The 61-year-old said: “When I parked up I went over to the pay-and-display machine in front of the shops and bought a ticket, and I displayed it clearly in the windscreen, but when I returned I had been issued a fine.

“When studying photographs of the two warning signs on the front and side of the block, it became apparent that the signage on the side had the word ‘permit’ and the signage on the front had ‘pay and display’.

“No one who was parking there would have been able to tell the difference from looking at the signs, I had to take a photo and study them in minute detail.”

Mr Thomas, of Walthamstow, uses the car park to visit his daughter, and initially lodged an appeal with Parking Ticketing after he received the fine in January, which was denied, but then won when he appealed to Parking on Private Land Appeals, with him receiving confirmation this month.

He said he always intended to park lawfully and fears if the signage is not changed on the block, more motorists will suffer the same fate.

He added: “It’s just ridiculous, I’m glad to have won the appeal, but my daughter, who lives above the shops on the block, told me it has happened quite a lot to people.

“It needs to be changed, there’s no excuse, they’re almost deliberately deceptive, no one who reads it from afar would be able to tell the signs are any different.”

Parking Ticketing Ltd was contacted for comment but did not respond before the Echo went to press.