Teacher Paul Adams is celebrating after successfully claiming a £70 parking fine was invalid because the ticket was in the wrong-coloured packet.

Mr Adams, from Dunsford, received the fine in Exeter last November, but he refused to pay it.

After carrying out research on the internet, he found that tickets issued by private parking firms must be designed to look different to the Penalty Charge Notices issued by traffic wardens.

The ticket from APCOA, the company which runs the St Thomas parking area, was issued in a black and yellow packet very similar to those issued by traffic wardens.

And after writing to the company to point out the similarities, and the relevant law, he was stunned to be told that the fine had been revoked, reports the Express and Echo.

He said: “After some research, I discovered the ticket was an infringement of parking law and wrote to complain.”

The research online revealed that a clause in section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 states that tickets issued by private companies should not resemble the Penalty Charge Notices issued by police, traffic wardens and local authorities.

Mr Adams, a freelance IT teacher, who said he had been parking in the same spot for the last four years without receiving a ticket, contacted the police about the incident. He was told it was a civil matter.

After contacting APCOA he received a short reply a few days later informing him that the ticket would be cancelled, although his details would be kept on file in case he flouted the rules again.

He said: “I was not harassed by the company but I am concerned that hundreds of other people could be paying without realising the tickets are invalid.”

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