A couple have been fined after using a fake garage door and high fence to hide a residential property from a council.

Reeta Herzallah and Hamdi Almasri breached planning regulations and were caught in October 2015, Blaby district council said.

Planning permission was granted for a development in 2007, with conditions stating that car-parking facilities, including the garage, should remain available permanently.

At Leicester magistrates court, Herzallah and Almasri, of Enderby, Leicestershire, were each ordered to pay a £770 fine, legal costs of £1,252 and a £77 victim surcharge.

The garage will be restored to its former use after follow-up visits by the council resulted in the discovery of a series of planning breaches.

The Blaby district councillor Sheila Scott said: “The message from this case is clear. If you breach planning regulations and ignore us, we will not just go away.

“Creating an access on to the busy B4114 and blocking off valuable off-road parking space was completely unacceptable.

“We will be following up the successful prosecution with a further visit to ensure that all the requirements of the breach of condition notice are fully complied with.”