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When theatre worker Matt Armstrong went to bed, his car was parked on the road outside his home in West Norwood as usual.

When he woke up, his Renault Clio was in a disabled bay which had been painted around the car “overnight” by council workers — and there was a £110 fine on his windscreen.

His neighbour had requested the bay for her husband more than two years ago — but he died earlier this year and she had called Lambeth council several times to cancel.

Mr Armstrong thought it was a joke when he woke up last Friday to find the fixed penalty notice on his car in Auckland Hill.

He said: “They put in this disabled bay which no one needs, painted it under my back wheels and then gave me a parking ticket.

“They were inside the parking bay by about two feet. Who in their right mind would do this? When I saw the painted bay and the ticket, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke.”

Mr Armstrong is a stage technician at the Adelphi Theatre and works on the award-winning Kinky Boots production. He said his wife had repeatedly called the council to explain but she had not got anywhere.

He added: “My neighbour asked for the disabled bay about two and a half years ago for her husband, but he died a couple of months ago and she called them a few times to cancel the request.

“But they’ve done it anyway. I was livid when I saw it.

“What can I do but pay the fine and hope to repeal it. If you don’t pay you get clamped or towed away.

“Is this what we pay our council tax for? It’s an absolute joke.”

Lambeth council confirmed Mr Armstrong’s fine had been cancelled after the authority was contacted by the Evening Standard.

A spokeswoman said: “We’ll cancel the fixed penalty notice and are investigating why there was some confusion around the marking of the disabled bays.”