Dubai: A motorist, who photoshopped a Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) parking ticket to park for free, received a suspended jail sentence on Thursday.

However, the accused who pleaded not guilty, will be deported.

In the March incident, an RTA inspector spotted a suspicious-looking parking ticket placed on the dashboard of a car in Karama.

When he scrutinised the ticket and discovered that it was forged, the inspector called the police.

Police identified the car-owner, who turned out to be a 25-year-old Indian worker.

The man was summoned to the parking lot where he handed over the forged RTA ticket to the inspector.

On Thursday, the Dubai Court of First Instance presided over by judge Urfan Omar convicted the defendant of tampering with and using an RTA parking ticket.

He was given a three-month suspended jail term citing grounds of leniency.

According to records, the accused used the graphics software Adobe Photoshop to tamper with the parking ticket and use it.

The accused told the court that he used the forged ticket only once by mistake. When questioned by prosecutors, he had said that he photocopied the parking ticket and then forged it using Adobe Photoshop.

The RTA inspector also testified that he called police after discovering that the ticket was forged.

The ruling remains subject to appeal.