Pretty much every single person who has ever received a parking fine has an elaborate reason why it was absolutely not their fault. But in this instance, the aggrieved motorist seems to have a point.

Apparently, contractors painting yellow lines to mark new parking restrictions simply lifted up Ruth Ducker's legally parked Volkswagen Golf, then replaced it in a newly painted no-parking area. Later on, a separate team of traffic wardens arrived, saw the "illegally" positioned car and had it towed away.

Things only got more Kafkaesque from there. It took three weeks for the council to admit they had Ducker's car and another eight -- plus an intervention from a local politician -- for her to get the Golf back and the fines, which by then totaled almost £2,000, waived.

We hope this will teach Ruth to think before she parks on a stretch of road that may, at some unspecified point in the future, become a no-parking zone.