A MOTORIST has taken on the might of parking bosses by claiming that every ticket issued in the last nine years is invalid.

Wayne Pendle, 33, from Acorn Close, High Wycombe, put his case before an independent parking adjudicator this week in a bid to expose a major error in parking enforcement. If he is proved right, every motorist with an outstanding ticket could have a case for a refund. The hearing could even spark a legal challenge to force Bucks County Council to pay back every ticket handed out since they took control of parking in the town with the introduction of a Special Parking Area (SPA) in May 1997.

Mr Pendle believes the tickets are illegal because they only state the date the ticket was issued and not the date of the parking offence. A similar point has been used to successfully challenge tickets in other parts of the country. He said: "Although in most cases the date you get the ticket is the day of the offence, the two are not the same. There are examples where a registered owner of a vehicle has not seen the PCN for a number of weeks, and will not know when the offence occurred."

In October Mr Pendle set out to get a parking ticket, known as a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), just so he could contest it and reveal the error.

He said: "Parking enfor-cement has gone way out of control."

Mr Pendle revealed to the National Parking Adjudication Service hearing on Tuesday, that since April 20 this year the PCNs in High Wycombe have started to carry the previously missing date of offence, known as the date of contravention. He said: "It would appear Bucks County Council have chan-ged their policy to cover this point."

Anne-Marie Goodbody, from the county council, said the change had been made after a conversation with a motorist. She said: "We took legal advice that said the date of notice complies with regulations. Nevertheless we always take into account comments we receive from drivers. We decided this would further clarify the position."

A decision on the case is expected within a month.

After the hearing Mrs Goodbody said: "It is a legal matter being dealt with by legal people. I do not know what the adjudicator's decision will be but the advice we have been given is that there is nothing to worry about here."