A MOTORIST who waged a two-year battle over the size of the parking bays near his home claims wardens are issuing unlawful parking tickets.

Mark Jeffery, of Footscray Lane, Sidcup, has been refusing to pay penalty notices for parking in the bays, which he claims are about 25cm narrower than others in the borough.

As a result, wardens are issuing parking tickets to parked vehicles for not being fully parked in the bays, which are marked across both the pavement and the road.

Mr Jeffery has already had £1,000 worth of tickets written off by Bexley Council but claims wardens are again targeting vehicles parked there.

He is currently appealing against two tickets and claims they were issued unlawfully in the light of the council's decision to write off previous tickets.

Even News Shopper's photographer had difficulty parking his VW Polo in one of the bays.

Mr Jeffery says the council should have widened the bays when they were repainted, so cars could park on the pavement.

He said: "There would be plenty of room left on the footway for two people with pushchairs to walk together."

The council told him the bays would then overlap the paving stones, which would crack under the weight.

The council says motorists should park with two wheels in the road.

Mr Jeffery says the road is very busy and not very wide. It is also on a bus route and parking partly on the road is dangerous, particularly when parking close to the railway bridge.

He is angry that, two years on, the council is still refusing to make the bays wider.

Bexley Council claims the bays are a standard 1.8m wide.

A spokesman said: "This is the minimum width for designated parking bays and complies with current regulations.

"Bays such as those on Footscray Lane are not designated but are painted at the standard width across the borough."

She added the Footscray Lane bays are only painted on three sides: "There is no line on the fourth side, which allows vehicles to park legally with two wheels in the road rather than taking up more pavement space."