£70 fine for picking up broken bottle

A road cleaner has been fined £70 when he stopped his sweeping machine for a minute to pick up a broken bottle.

Justin Wickett saw a jagged glass bottle and thought somebody might step on it. He parked his electric road sweeper for about a minute in a vacant disabled parking bay in St Austell, Cornwall.

That was time eneough for a council parking attendant to spot the vehicle and write out a £70 parking ticket.

Justin said: "I was not blocking anyone or causing an obstruction."

Cornwall council, through a spokesman, said: "The penalty charge notice was correctly issued as the vehicle was parked in a disabled and there was no sign of the driver or any workmen. A challenge was subsequently made and the penalty charge notice has been cancelled."

Meanwhile, in Islington, north London, a woman knocked off her moped returned to the scene to retrieve her bike after spending a week in hospital.

The bike was still there – covered with five parking tickets. Lisa Copp, the moped rider, also appealed successfully against the £360 of fines – presumably on the grounds it wasn't a fair cop!

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