A motorist returned from holiday to find his car had been moved onto double yellow lines that were painted while he was away – and then given four parking tickets.
Stunned Martin Dodridge, 51, left his Reliant Robin parked safely in the road near his home when he left for a two-week break in South Africa.
Friends informed him that his car had been moved while workers for Cornwall Council contractor Cormac painted double yellow lines along the road.
Martin Dodridge, 51, (pictured) returned from holiday to find four parking tickets on his car which had been moved onto double yellow lines that were painted while he was away
Mr Dodridge had left his Reliant Robin parked safely in the road (above) near his home when he left for a two-week holiday. Friends informed him that his car had been moved while workers for Cornwall Council contractor Cormac painted double yellow lines along the road
The three-wheeled vehicle was then placed back onto the newly-painted lines – and traffic wardens slapped four tickets on the car before Martin returned home.
The welder, of Penryn, Cornwall, is furious that he was not contacted despite his vehicle being emblazoned with his business name and number.
He says a sign requesting vehicles to be moved was only installed two days before the work began, by which time he had left the country.
‘I’m blown away,’ he said. ‘When you tell people, they can’t believe it – they’re shocked.
‘I left my car perfectly safe and got back on Wednesday and it’s moved with tickets on it.
‘I’m totally shocked but there’s a kind of funny side to it.
The welder is furious that he was not contacted despite his vehicle being emblazoned with his business name and number (pictured) and claims a sign requesting vehicles to be moved was only installed two days before the work began, by which time he had left the country
‘The police didn’t want to know because there was no damage so they said it was a civil matter.
‘I called and reported it to the council and was told that someone would ring me back, the head of the department, regarding moving the vehicle.
‘They also gave me a reference number and told me to go on their website to the complaints section. I’ve done that but I haven’t heard back from anyone and it was two days ago.’
Martin’s brother, Tony Gibbs, 53, of Helston, Cornwall, was around while he was on holiday and equally stunned by the bizarre turn of events.
He said: ‘He went away for two weeks and it happened almost the day after he left.
‘I got a message from him in South Africa saying someone let him know that they had painted yellow lines where his van was.
‘He was parked perfectly legally because there were no lines.
‘They came along, painted the lines and looks as if they dragged the car or literally lifted it up, continued painting the lines and then lifted the car over the top of the lines.
Martin’s brother, Tony Gibbs, said: ‘They came along, painted the lines and looks as if they dragged the car or literally lifted it up, continued painting the lines and then lifted the car over the top of the lines’
‘They left it further down the hill on top of the lines. I left a note saying ‘owner is away on holiday with the keys’ and they put three or four parking tickets on it.
‘It’s crazy, isn’t it?
‘There are now lines running about 20 yards in the road where there were none in the road at all.
‘There was no notification or sings saying about it beforehand.
‘They should not have moved his car.
‘The irony is they painted lines up to the vehicle and moved it down the hill on top of the lines and carried on painting in front of it.
‘His name, contact, email and mobile number are on the side of his van and nobody thought to contact him, even to say ‘can you move your van?’.
‘It’s mental.’
Cormac is an arms-length contractor wholly owned by Cornwall Council, which is responsible for on-street parking enforcement.
Cornwall Council has been asked for comment but not yet responded.