A carer has refused to pay his parking fine after claiming the bay he parked in is illegal.

Nigel Wise, who works as a carer in Lyndhurst Avenue, Whitton, was slapped with the £50 fine after stopping in a loading bay in St Margarets to check the signs for two minutes in April.

The bay, outside Tesco Express in St Margarets Road, hit the headlines in 2005 after it was revealed Richmond Council took an average of £1,400 in parking fines per day from drivers stopping at the bay. More than 10,000 fines were slapped on motorists over a 20-month period, it was revealed.

However, Mr Wise has refused to pay his fine because he claims the parking bays are illegally marked.

After careful research he discovered the bay was not marked in accordance to the rules set out in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 guide, which states loading bays of that type should be no more than 13.2m in length.

Mr Wise said: “The bay in question is over 15m long. It therefore can’t be classed as a loading bay.

“It’s a clear cut case of illegal signage.”

Mr Wise was caught stopping in the bay by a camera placed outside St Margarets station.

Back in 2005, former cabinet member for transport David Trigg denied drivers were being fined automatically after being filmed on camera while examining the bay’s signs.

But Mr Wise claims the camera is being solely used for that purpose.

Mr Wise said: “It would appear that this camera is being used almost exclusively for the purpose of issuing tickets to unsuspecting motorists who happen to be in the bay in question.”

The council has refused his informal appeal. Mr Wise now faces taking the case to the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service, whose parking adjudicators consider appeals against penalty charge issued by London authorities.

However he is still hoping the council will change its mind and cancel the fine, which has now risen to £100.

Councillor Clare Head, the council’s cabinet member for traffic, said: “We are aware of Mr Wise’s concerns about a parking bay in St Margarets.

“We are currently reviewing this and it would not be right for us to comment any further until review has been completed.”