Driver wins £20,000 damages for stress of parking tickets

The only feasible response to a parking fine is usually impotent rage. So motorists up and down the country are likely to cheer the man who, facing penalties of £150, turned the tables on council officials - and walked away with £20,000. The legal battle ended in scenes of humiliation for the council as bailiffs arrived to begin ripping out computers at its public office. They were about to unplug a crucial file server when the staff gave in and agreed to pay up as ordered by the High Court.

The farcical saga began when Z-Un Noon, of Tower Hamlets, east London, was caught by CCTV committing a parking offence in October 2007 and fined £50 by Newham Council. Noon failed to pay so bailiffs were called in and the case closed. Two more penalties of £50 were imposed for parking offences the following month but again Noon did not pay. A fourth penalty was dropped when it was pointed out that it duplicated the previous one.

Noon refused to take the penalties lying down. He decided to give the council a taste of its own medicine by pursuing a case for damages, apparently for the emotional distress he had been caused. When the council failed to appear at a county court hearing, he was given judgment by default and, scarcely able to believe his luck, awarded £5,000 for each ticket, making a total of £20,000.



A further hearing took place at the High Court, giving Newham Council a chance to challenge the award, but again it failed to show. Bailiffs were dispatched to the council's 'Parking Shop' in East Ham last November to present a 'notice of seizure'.

Si-Ling Pang, a spokeswoman for Newham Council, said: "They were unplugging computers and taking them away. If they'd unplugged the server it would have cost us thousands of pounds of worth of damage, so we had to pay to stop it." By now the cost, ultimately borne by taxpayers, had risen to £27,566.83, including a service charge and costs resulting from the time taken to settle the case.

Last month the council, which claims it never received the court summonses, took the case to Bow County Court, which ruled in its favour and ordered Noon to give the money back. But he may yet have the last laugh: he claims he cannot repay the money because he has spent it.