Ross Morgan SUS-191204-143937001

Ross Morgan, 75, paid for a parking fine with loose change in a box he glued shut after parking on a grass verge outside The Steam Packet pub in Terminus Road.

The South Terrace resident said Arun District Council accepted his £35 payment, which included an extra £2.90 to waste even more time.

By paying his fine in the most inconvenient way, Ross said he hoped to have caused the council more expense than it earned.

He said: “To accept my payment they had to open the box, count the cash, pay it into the bank as cash, send me no less than three letters, issue two invoices (I think they meant receipts) and reimburse me the £2.90 in a separate cheque.

“The labour alone has cost approximately ten times more than any income gained from this cynical and mealy mouthed performance.”

Ross was outraged in February by what he felt was an ‘underhand’ method of raising money by the council. His car was one of several parked on the grass verge, well away from the road, but it was only his that was ticketed.

He said customers at The Steam Packet were mostly of ‘advanced years’, many were disabled and no alternative parking was provided around the pub, leaving them with no option but to use the verge.

Ill-health has stopped Ross from returning to his regular pub since, but he said he fully intends to continue parking on the verge in future.

“I fully intend to park there again and I have another box prepared,” said the blue badge holder.

“This one will take much longer to get into. They have set a precedent by accepting the first one.

“I have absolutely no complaints with Arun District Council, I think they do a quite remarkable job.

“The town is always clean and tidy – within a couple of hours on Tuesdays after foxes and seagulls have done their worst with bin bags, the whole town is spotless again. I have nothing but praise for the quality of service that the council provides.

“However, there is always someone who will take advantage of ‘rules and regulations’ to justify doing something like this.

“I don’t suppose it will have the slightest effect on the ‘just following orders’ brigade but I have at least tried to make my point.”