Motorist John Samuels has won an appeal against a parking ticket he received at Emery Gate Car Park, Chippenham, after an independent adjudicator ruled the signage was inadequate.

Mr Samuels said his battle to get the ticket overturned cost him more than the £50 fine but he wanted to prove Wiltshire Council was wrong.

Mr Samuels, a freelance cameraman who lives near Glastonbury, got the parking ticket when he parked in Emery Gate car park on April 18.

He did not realise the car park had a £1 an hour charge as he said he did not see a sign. The entrance to the car park had a Tesco Metro sign.

He parked near the entrance and, on seeing the penalty ticket, he took photographs of the car park and saw a sign saying ‘This is a pay and display car park’ on a wall at ground level and partially obscured by a pillar at the entrance. He took another photograph of a white van obstructing his view of a ticket machine at the far end of the car park.

He submitted his photographs to Wiltshire Council and appealed against the fine but it was rejected.

Mr Samuels took his appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and attended a hearing in Bristol on October 19. Wiltshire Council sent two officials to the hearing and submitted a 74-page defence.

Adjudicator Deborah Gibson cancelled the penalty ticket and said in her report: “Mr Samuels produced photographs of other car parks where there were more numerous and clearer signs.

“I find that relying upon signs at machines at some distance when the entrance is not clearly marked as pay and display but as being a Tesco car park is not sufficient. I find that the signage was not adequate and the contravention did not occur.”

Mr Samuels said: “What needs highlighting is the sheer cost of this campaign. Besides a mass of paperwork for the council defence, the council sent out someone to take their own photographs. All this for a missed £1 parking payment which I sent a cheque for on the same day in retrospect, which the council returned and insisted on fining me.

“I wanted to contest this out of principle. Because the entrance sign said it was Tesco I assumed it was a free car park. The blue sign behind the pillar was not obvious.”

The council changed the signs on August 8. The sign on the wall at ground level has been moved so it is no longer obscured by the pillar and a new sign saying it is a pay and display car park is underneath the Tesco Metro sign at the entrance.

Coun Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for highways at Wiltshire Council, said in a statement: “The signs and lineage at Emery Gate is continually reviewed as part of the council’s maintenance programme.

“There is no fee for the Traffic Penalty Tribunal as they are funded by annual fees from local authorities.”

Wiltshire Council would not provide a cost of the case but said the main cost would be officer time.