Fiona: I'll sue over £600 parking fine

GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips is threatening to sue Wandsworth Council after being made to pay £600 for what she claims was an "unfair" parking ticket.

The 45-year-old was given a £40 parking fine but claims she had correctly paid and displayed. However the council says it has photographic evidence that no voucher was displayed.

Ms Phillips wrote to the council enclosing what she claims was proof that she had bought a ticket but was told she would have to pay up and go through the normal appeals process to stand a chance of recovering the cash.

She admits she then ignored all demands to pay up as a "point of principle", resulting in the fine rising to £582.40 and the council taking the case to court. The affair culminated in court-appointed bailiffs visiting her house in Wandsworth last week and threatening to take away her £12,000 car.

Ms Phillips, a motheroftwo, said: "I looked out of the window and saw a yellow clamp on my car. So I phoned a lawyer, who spoke to the bailiff, before advising me to pay up. I am the victim of an over-zealous parking attendant who wanted to bump up his ticket quota. In my view it was harassment.

"So a £40 fine for something I didn't do has turned into a bill of nearly £600. I paid up only because they took their threats one step too far.

"Talk about the punishment not fitting the crime - and I hadn't even committed a crime."

Ms Phillips now plans to use her case to highlight the "unfairness" of parking fines in London. Writing in her Daily Mirror column, she said: "They haven't heard the last from me. I intend to sue Wandsworth Council, because they do the same thing every day to people more vulnerable than me.

"They're soon going to wish they'd never started this."

A spokesman for Wandsworth Council said: "Most people know that it's never a good idea to ignore legal warning letters. However, by her own admission that's exactly what Ms Phillips did.

"She claims she had a pay and display voucher on show in her car. Yet we have a photograph of the vehicle at the time and it's quite clear there was no voucher in the windscreen or side windows.

"She was written to and advised how to appeal but she chose to ignore this advice and all the letters she received. That's why bailiffs were appointed."