Parking suspensions in a residential square have been reversed by the council after an electricity contractor was found to have unnecessarily blocked off more than 40 bays when carrying out work there.

Many residents in Milner Square, Islington, weren’t able to park on their street after UK Power Networks got permission to suspend 41 parking bays for a week from last Friday when they started repairing two street lighting faults.

But following a series of complaints to the council, officers visited the site and found that just one of the spaces was being used by the contractor. The council then removed the parking suspensions on Monday, saying the situation was “unacceptable”.

Kenny Scott, 39, of Milner Square, said: “It’s great this has changed. If this situation continued, we would’ve blockaded the square. We may have been forced to take the issue into our own hands.”

He added: “I had a man fixing my boiler who had to park three streets away. I parked my car in Hertfordshire –17 miles away. I couldn’t travel to see friends and family. I paid a significant amount of money to park where I live, but couldn’t do so.”

The cost of resident parking permits in Islington range from £15 to £420 per year, depending on the C02 emission and size of the vehicle.

A council spokesman said on Monday: “Responding to complaints from residents, we have visited Milner Square and found only one suspended space was actually in use by the contractor.

“This is unacceptable, and we are today removing all of the requested parking suspensions so local people can park more easily.

“We have asked the contractor to apologise to local residents for this disruption.”

In a statement, UK Power Networks said: “We are sorry to hear about the problems caused for some residents in the Milner Square area of Islington regarding parking spaces.

“We are pleased the issue has now been resolved. An investigation is under way to find out the processes that led to the suspensions being requested and allowed.”