A man returned from holiday to find a disabled bay painted around his car and four parking fines on it
Published on Dec 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Dec 10, 2025 at 4:15 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
The last thing you expect after being on holiday is to find parking fines on your car – and even less a disabled bay was painted around it.
However, that is what happened to a man after he parked his car and went on holiday, only for a local council to paint the bay around his vehicle.
Before he left, that bay did not exist, so he had parked his car legally.
So you can imagine the shock he got when he realized he suddenly had four parking tickets to deal with!
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How did he get the four parking fines?
This is possibly one of the most bizarre automotive stories of 2025.
The car was parked in Croydon, England.
The local council authorized the new space.
CCTV footage shared on social media showed a contractor coming in and measuring the bay.
The car was parked on an unrestricted road outside his home.
As he was on holiday, there was nothing he could do about the newly painted bay.
In the CCTV footage, the contractor is visibly taking pictures of the car.
This was done to alert the council that a car was already there, and not to issue a fine.
But a parking attendant was not told about this.
That led to the issuing of four parking tickets.
This was not what the owner wanted to do while on holiday.
The situation nearly ruined his holiday
The owner told the BBC he couldn’t enjoy the holiday.
He had witnessed it on the cameras outside his home, and it turned into a very stressful situation.
Croydon Council, the authority in the area, did issue an apology to the owner.
They confirmed all four tickets had been cancelled.
Thankfully, the owner did not have to pay a hefty parking fine.
Sadly, the parking attendant who issued the tickets had received online abuse.
This was despite the fact that it was not their fault.
You probably wouldn’t believe it without seeing the footage.
All the owner wanted was for the council to have communicated to him that this was happening.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to pay the fines for a car that had, in fact, been legally parked.
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Henry is a content writer with nearly ten years experience, having written for various publications since 2017. Qualifying with a Sports Journalism degree from Staffordshire University, Henry loves all things automotive but has a particular soft spot for classic Japanese cars and anything Lancia. He also has a curious passion for steam locomotives.
