A driver is threatening to sue his local council after they slapped him with more than £400 in fines because he deliberately parked on faded double yellow lines for five years.
David Lamprell, 39, claims he has been taking advantage of a legal loophole by squeezing his car into a 'gap' in the yellow lines opposite his home in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
However, he has been inundated with tickets and recieved six £70 notices in just three months alone.
Photos taken by traffic wardens show his Ford Fiesta parked on a small patch where two double yellow lines have faded.
The mechanical engineer claims the parking restrictions are invalid because the weathered lines have been 'broken'. According to UK law, drivers can appeal tickets if markings cannot be clealy observed.
David Lamprell believes he's been taking advantage of a legal loophole to squeeze his car into a 'gap' in the markings opposite his Southend-on-Sea, Essex, home
The mechanical engineer claims that the parking restrictions are invalid because the weathered markings have been 'broken'
However, he has been inundated with tickets and was slapped with six £70 notices in just three months
After his latest fine, he sent Southend-on-Sea Borough Council a strongly-worded email to demand an apology.
In the note, he ordered staff be retrained on parking laws, all fines be revoked and even threatened he would take the council to court for compensation over the 'stress' of appealing the fines due to what he is 'going through'.
Southend-on-Sea council told him that 'faded yellow lines don't mean the restriction is not valid', and have rejected every appeal so far.
The AA and road safety charity AIM RoadSmart both believe there are enough yellow lines on the road for fines to be enforced.
Despite this, the mechanical engineer has insisted the council are 'not getting a penny' even if the issue is dragged through court.
After being slammed online, the father-of-three hit back, claiming he's 'not avoiding the law, but sticking to it'.
David, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, said: 'I'm not trying to avoid the law, I'm actually sticking to the law.
'People think 'they're double yellow lines and that's the end of it' and you can't fight the system, but I've dealt with the system for a long time now.
'I looked at the law and it says if the double yellow line is broken then I can park on it, so I parked on it. They're completely gone. It's not about what was there. It's about what is there now.
'They used to be a little bit better but they were still broken, otherwise I wouldn't have parked there. Since then, they've painted them once but didn't actually paint where the gap is.
'The lines run round the corner from my house to a dead end road, so I'm not sure why they're there in the first place. There's almost zero traffic outside the road. It's dead.
'The council can't bend the law to suit them to get their money. I think they're just fining me to get an extra bit of cash. I don't doubt it.
'It's just frustrating because it's draining my time. I work 12 hours, four on days, four on nights, then four days off, and the days I get off I have shopping to do and I have to look after the kids.
'I have to now spend my time talking to the council and emailing people telling them that they're not double yellow lines. The pictures they send me show that the lines are
