A former councillor who fell foul of permit parking regulations found that Kirklees raked in £5.5 million in fines over six years.

Linda Wild, of Mountjoy Road, Edgerton, claims her permit renewal application went astray – landing her with a £35 fine.

Former Liberal Democrat councillor Linda says she sent off her renewal but Kirklees Council insisted it got stuck in the post.

Eleven days after the household’s three permits expired, Linda’s car was ticketed outside her home.

She appealed but her pleas were rejected and she was forced to pay up.

Linda said: “It was as if the council was saying I was lying.

“I said I sent the renewal and the council said they hadn’t received it. We just kept going round in circles.”

Linda had three permits, one for her BMW Z3, another for husband Stephen’s BMW and a third for a Toyota Yaris belonging to family friend Julie Davies who was staying with them.

Linda posted renewal documents on November 25, five days before they expired.

On December 11 she returned from work to find a penalty notice on her car.

The other two cars, also parked on the street, were not ticketed.

Linda said she had photocopied the papers but not kept proof of postage.

“The council has stopped sending out renewal reminders and has shut the parking office so you can’t renew in person, you have to send them off,” said Linda.

“I appealed against the ticket but got an email back rejecting the appeal. What else could I have done?”

Linda had just suffered a bereavement and with Christmas looming she decided to pay the fine.

“If it had come to any other time I would have fought it in court,” she said. “I have a real feeling of injustice.”

Linda, who served on Kirklees for four years until 2004, submitted a series of questions to the council under the Freedom of Information Act.

She discovered that Kirklees had issued 27,174 fixed penalty notices for parking offences in 2012-13 and of those 2,639 were issued in parking permit areas.

She was also told that parking fines had generated £1.4 million for the council in 2011-12 and £740,000 last year.

In total fines had raked in £5.5 million over six years.

Linda said: “This amount is staggering. Where does all this money go and how is it spent?

“Instead of sending out enforcement officers the council should be helping people comply with the regulations.

People are having a really hard time but Kirklees just wants to make money.”

A council spokesman said: “Our records show that Mrs Wild’s renewal application forms were received on December 12. Her previous permits expired on November 30.

“Unfortunately the council cannot be responsible for the late delivery of post and had Mrs Wild contacted the parking office before December 11 to enquire about her new permits, the penalty notice would have been avoided.”

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