I parked my car legally in my street, with its CPZ permit properly displayed and had no reason to return to it for five days.

When I did return, I found a Penalty Charge Notice demanding �120 had been slapped on it – because the bay where I had parked had subsequently been suspended.

I appealed, fully expecting the charge to be overturned. Not so. The letter I received from Islington Parking Services said there was no “compelling reason” to cancel it, even though they appreciated that “the suspension warning signs may have been erected after” the date on which I had parked.

They added that such an order can be implemented with “little or no advance warning to residents” and that a parked vehicle should be “regularly checked”(on a daily basis or every hour?).

This is plainly an outrageous policy, discriminating against drivers who attempt to use their cars as little as possible, who choose to go on holiday without their car, who have unexpected caring commitments or who become ill.

Every car owner in Islington is potentially at risk from this policy. I urge those likely to be affected to do what they can to get the policy changed. – Christine van Meeteren, Tavistock Terrace, N19.