A GREENOCK man who was wrongly slapped with a fine for parking legally outside his own home has hit out after the council refused to fix the mistake.

Alexander Houston stays in East Shaw Street - an area which falls within Inverclyde Council's town centre parking restriction zones - and he was hit with £60 penalty despite holding a valid permit.

But when Mr Houston called Inverclyde Council's customer services for help he was repeatedly told that it was his own responsibility to write to the English based contractor firm and appeal the fine.

Only when the Tele stepped in did council chiefs resolve the matter and agree to rip up the ticket.

Alexander, 65, who works part-time and suffers with COPD, said: "When I saw the ticket I just panicked.

"I am no good with phones and it is all done online.

"At first I thought maybe my permit might not have renewed.

"I had to phone my son to check it all out for me but my permit was fully updated.

"When I called the council they said that I would have to appeal the parking ticket with the firm in Northampton myself.

"I couldn't believe it.

"My son then called them with all the details, but he was told the same thing.

"That can't be right.

"I have my permit and it was the council's mistake.

"It is up to them to fix it."

Mr Houston's penalty charge notice warned if he did not pay stump up £30 within 28 days then he would have to pay the full £60.

He said: "I have been really stressed about it all.

"I mean how long would an appeal take and why should I have to do it in the first place when I have a permit.

"It seems ridiculous."

Inverclyde Council introduced dedicated residents zones as part of their parking enforcement scheme.

Mr Houston, who was a chef at Inverclyde Royal for 40 years and now works as a taxi driver said: "The restrictions are nightmare.

"I have a permit for my own car but I have to park my taxi somewhere else because I am not allowed a permit for it.

"Everyone complains about the parking permits but my biggest problem is that it is all on my phone.

"I would rather just have a paper copy."

Alexander's neighbour Charlie Forbes supported Mr Houston in his calls for the council to take responsibility for the blunder.

He said: "These restrictions were imposed on us and there is nothing we can do about it.

"But we have the hassle of renewing the permits and the wardens are always watching what we are doing, and then people are fined when they have a permit."

When contacted by the Tele, Inverclyde Council relented and agreed to sort out the fiasco themselves without forcing Mr Houston to go down the formal appeal route with their contractors down south.

An Inverclyde Council spokesperson said: “There was an administrative error in that there was an incorrect reference number attached to this permit, which meant it showed up on our system as being invalid.

"We are pleased to say that the error has now been rectified and the penalty notice rescinded and we thank the permit holder for bringing this to our attention.”