A MAN has spoken of his fury after he was slapped with a parking ticket outside his own home - before a parking permit scheme came into place.

Philip Ferriby, who lives New Works Road, Low Moor, has hit out at Bradford Council over the blunder.

And while an apology has been made - and the parking fine rescinded - he fears the "farce" could happen again.

Mr Ferriby, 67, said the possibility of a parking scheme had been on the horizon for a number of years, but kept getting pushed back.

It finally came to fruition at the beginning of the year, with letters sent out on January 31 which said: "The residents' permit parking scheme, signing and yellow lines are in the process of being implemented.

"This scheme forms part of a larger scheme which has 48 sites where some are complete and are in different stages of being implemented.

"I have instructed parking services to invite all residents to apply for one permit per vehicle and one visitors' permit.

"The Legal Order cannot be sealed to become operational until everything is completed on the ground, I would expect that to be in March/April.

"Once you receive the permits, please start using them straight away as this will be a deterrent to none residents."

Then another letter, sent on February 12, outlined the scheme and advised residents they would have 21 days from the date of the letter to apply, otherwise a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) may be issued.

Mr Ferriby applied for a permit, but to his dismay, received a £70 parking fine - for a parking outside his own house.

"When I rang up the department of parking services, they told me that once the signs go up, these parking permits become enforceable.

"I said 'I've got a letter here what states differently'."

Mr Ferriby says he was then told he would have to pay it and if wasn't paid within a month, it would be passed to a debt collection company.

He then read the letter out and says he was told "someone must have made a grave error".

Following the conversation, where he was told it would be looked into, Mr Ferriby says he received an unsigned, hand-delivered letter which said the PCNs issued to residents on the road, on that day, had been issued incorrectly due to communication issues and they would be cancelled.

Mr Ferriby said: "From the beginning, it has been complete farce.

"I've spent nearly an hour on the phone arguing over this parking ticket - they were adamant I was going to pay it."

He added: "It's a farce, it's a joke. What I want to know is how many times has this happened in the past and how many times is it going to happen again."

Mr Ferriby said he fears it could happen again and believes whoever issued the ticket had not looked at the handheld device, otherwise it would have been flagged up.

"There's a lack of communication somewhere along the line."

A spokesperson for Bradford Council said: “Signs for a new permit parking scheme were installed in New Works Road, Low Moor, earlier this year.

“Before it became operational and residents received their permits, some of their vehicles were issued with Penalty Charge Notices in error.

“These PCNs were subsequently removed from vehicles and cancelled.

"Letters of apology were sent to the residents.”

Earlier this month, the Telegraph & Argus reported the amount paid in parking fees and fines to Bradford Council had risen by eight per cent so far in the 2019/20 financial year to £3.4 million.

The amount has been boosted by rising parking charges and an increasing number of PCNs, according to the Council’s figures.

On-street parking PCNs have jumped by more than 11,500 - 24 per cent - to more than 59,000 compared to 2018/19, while off-street PCNs have risen by 4,500 - 46 per cent - to 14,600.

Some months saw a 50 per cent increase in on-street PCNs compared to the same month the previous year, while off-street PCNs have doubled in some months.

Figures showing penalty charge income from each car park across the district reveal the total has already shot up by almost a third compared to last year, going up to £323,916 so far in 2019/20 against £238,369 in 2018/19.