One-legged man given parking ticket after false leg fell off

A one-legged man was given a parking ticket when he pulled over because his false leg fell off. Former parking attendant Lee Scarrott received a £70 fine during a five-minute emergency pit-stop in a loading bay as he tried to find a vital missing piece. Mr Scarrott, of Gardendale Avenue, Clifton, lost his right leg after he crashed his motorbike into an 18-tonne lorry in 2007. He has made a full recovery and can now walk unaided and drive a specially adapted car.

On December 3 last year, he says he had driven into the city centre and parked legally in a disabled bay in St Peter's Gate at the Nationwide Building Society. However, on his way back to the car, the suction pin which keeps his prosthetic limb attached to his body began to come loose. And it was only when Mr Scarrott – who worked as a parking attendant for Nottingham City Council in the five months leading up to his crash – got back into his car that he realised his false leg was loose.



After driving a few yards it completely dropped off so he pulled over into a loading bay in nearby Victoria Street and says he desperately tried to find the suction pin. Mr Scarrott said he thought it must have dropped on to the street before he got into the car so he hopped back using a walking stick to look for it, and found it outside the building society. "I was only away from my car for about five minutes while I looked for it," he said. But he returned to his vehicle only to find a yellow-enveloped ticket on his windscreen. "I didn't pay the £70 within the 14 days because I completely contested it," said Mr Scarrott.

The 47-year-old appealed against the penalty charge but Nottingham City Council turned him down. He was ready to take the appeal higher to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, when the council belatedly dropped the case. A city council spokesperson said: "The motorist did contravene the parking regulation that was in force at the time. Although the penalty charge notice was correctly issued, on this occasion, taking into account the circumstances, the council is prepared to cancel the notice."