A MAN who said he was sent round in circles after trying to appeal a parking ticket has criticised the council’s “Soviet-style” system.

William Comet, who lives in Finchley, was ticketed for parking in a permit holder’s only bay in Castle Road, North Finchley, in July – so fired off an appeal to Barnet council.

The 48-year-old, who had paid to park there, says the signs were ambiguous and he had not realised he was parking in a restricted space.

He said: “The bays were marked in a colour like the yellow colour for disabled people, but I saw no disabled signed. There was no sign at all by the spaces so I paid and thought that was the end of it.”

He has repetitive strain injury and a back condition and as a result, is unable to type for long periods of time to appeal his ticket.

Every time he tries to ring the authority for help, he claims he is met with a wave of confusion and the deadline for appeal is fast looming.

He said: “It’s like my appeal disappeared into a hole and nobody is telling me anything. Barnet is running Soviet-style nonsense to try and stop people making an appeal.”

He says he has been directed back and forth between NSL and Barnet council and after dictating audio e-mails to NSL, he was told nothing had been received.

Parking expert Derek Dishman, who blogs under the alias Mr Mustard, works pro-bono as a representative in the appeals process and has successfully won similar cases.

He said: “It is a common area to get fined because the orange lines are subtle, especially in the rain. And you don’t expect a car park to not be car park.”

He says according to regulations, there is no requirement for councils or parking services to allow people to appeal fines by phone, even for people registered as disabled.

He added: “Even Stephen Hawking would have to use the web-form or send a written letter.”

His main complaint is that outsourcing different parts of the parking, penalty and appeals process to NSL and Capita has made it “complicated” and “inefficient”.

But he says the appeals process, whilst tiresome and confusing, is otherwise fair.

He added: “Outsourcing is an absolutely disaster. It is ridiculous that parking is such a fragmented service.”

The Times Series is awaiting comment from Barnet Council.

A Barnet Council spokesperson, said: “We would like to apologise to Mr Comet for the difficulties he experienced during the appeal process and we are looking to make improvements in the near future. Our team will be getting in touch with him to discuss his case further.”