FRESH calls have been made for better signage in Witney's short stay car parks after new figures show more than 60 per cent of parking tickets appealed last year were successful.

Sixty-two per cent of challenges to Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued between January and October last year resulted in cancellations, up from 60 per cent in 2017.

Paul Hart, who successfully appealed a ticket received in the Woolgate car park, on Witan Way, last February, believes the high success rate could be down to poor signage.

The Carterton resident wants bigger parking signs and repainted road markings in the Woolgate and said he felt 'vindicated' by the statistics.

He said: “If the council is going to lose so many appeals then why is it giving out tickets for the various offences. It must be like knocking your head against a wall.

“If the council’s being proved wrong more times than not they need to do something about it.”

Witney has three short-stay car parks, with 440 spaces in Marriott’s Walk, 780 in the Woolgate and 88 in the Windrush Leisure Centre.

Between January 1 and October 31, 2018, the district council issued 1,078 PCNs for overstays in the three car parks.

A Freedom of Information request found 118 of those were challenged, with 74 successful.

Meanwhile, of 1,154 PCNs issued in 2017, 154 were appealed and 93 tickets cancelled.

Mr Hart's ticket was for parking in an area of the Woolgate with a one-hour maximum stay, when most spaces in the car park allow three hours.

He previously said this was due to signage that was 'nigh-on impossible' to read.

A West Oxfordshire District Council spokesman revealed signage and road markings had been reviewed, but added there was sometimes no option but to cancel the ticket.

They said: “There will sometimes be circumstances that the parking enforcement officer could not have been aware of when the ticket was served and therefore cancellation may be the appropriate course of action.

“At the time the ticket was served the officer may have been entirely correct that a parking breach has occurred and a ticket should be served.

“We have reviewed the signage and road markings in the car parks and consider they are clear and fit for purpose.”