Anna Ford hits out at parking bosses

BBC newsreader Anna Ford has lambasted her local council over its "meanminded" and "greedy" parking rules.

The veteran TV anchorwoman leapt to the defence of a builder who was fined for parking outside her Brentford home while he fixed her roof.

Wardens insisted he pay up - because he filled in his visitor's permit using a pencil rather than a pen.

Ford, 61, has paid the penalty herself but launched a bitter attack on Hounslow council, branding it "unjust", "petty" and driven by profit.

"[It] made me rage against the sheer small- minded pettiness of the council and what it now stands for," she said. "It was an unjust and mean-minded tax on a decent man."

The BBC One O'Clock News presenter said she had called on the roofer to fix a leaking roof after three builders had failed to solve the problem.

"He turned up on the right day, in the rain, and fixed the problem," she said. "He was pleasant, helpful and efficient. I gave him a visitor's parking permit, regularly bought by me from the council, he filled it in, parked in the right place - and got a parking ticket."

She added: "He'd unwittingly filled in the ticket with a pencil, not a pen - that is all he had."

Ford wrote asking for the ticket to be rescinded, explaining the circumstances and that there was no intention of breaking the law.

She says she received a "cold, bureaucratic" reply which stated "the relevant entry was completed using pencil".

A further appeal was rejected on the basis that parking department chiefs needed to "satisfy the council's auditors that those reasons now accord with our cancellation criteria".

Ford added: "Money and accounts are now the driving principle in dealing with people.

"He also implied I might have rubbed it out to use it again - so I'm suspected of being dishonest as well.

"Under a kinder, less profit-driven system the attendant could have put their head round the gate and said, 'If you don't fill that in in pen, I'll give you a ticket'.

"But they have to get as many victims a day as they can, so there is really no humane response."

Ford, who claims she has had persistent problems with Hounslow - including a row over council tax owing to her - said: "Come on Hounslow, get a life, Look kindly on your citizens and don't hide behind self-serving rules."

The council said today: "There are clear printed instructions on the back of the visitor permit asking that the entry is completed in ink, to prevent fraud, as pencilled information can be erased."