10,000 parking fines 'are invalid because of rule changes'

Thousands of parking tickets should be scrapped because they were issued under the "wrong" regulations, campaigners said today.

About 10,000 fines were handed out in Camden after new rules came into effect on 31 March. On that day, parking attendants became "civil enforcement officers" and councils had to pass new Traffic Management Orders to make their work legal, according to campaign group ParkingAppeals. Instead, it claims, Camden continued to issue penalties under the old legislation.

The group's founder, Neil Herron, says the council issued faulty tickets for 18 days for parking meter and pay and display "offences" - and that unenforceable tickets are still being issued for yellow line offences. He is threatening to take Camden to court unless it overturns the fines.

A spokesman for Camden council said: "We are confident we have acted lawfully. The power to make Traffic Management Orders is conferred by the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984. Therefore the changes brought about by the Traffic Management Act 2004, which deal with the enforcement of parking contraventions, do not affect the validity of our existing Traffic Management Orders."