A COUNCIL has said it will repay an administration fee it has been charging drivers who successfully appealed parking tickets.

Anyone who was fined in one of Cherwell District Council’s car parks since April 4 and had it over-turned was charged £16.

But, on Tuesday night, the council withdrew the charge and said it would refund all 217 people who had paid the fee, which could total £3,472.

It came after Corinne and Iain Belton complained about the fee when their parking ticket was cancelled.

The couple discovered the charge was not included in its published parking policy and was not approved by the council’s executive – making it invalid.

Mr Belton said: “If they had written that in their policy and agreed it then I could possibly understand it.

“There is a serious question arising how the council is managing such things and possibly this is not the only incident where members and officials are overstepping their authority.”

A council spokesman said: “The fee was incorrectly introduced under delegated authority. As a consequence, we have suspended the charge immediately. All those who have incurred this charge will receive a full refund.”

The council’s overview and scrutiny and resources and performance committees have also agreed a string of parking concessions, including:

  • Free parking after 7pm – previously it was midnight
  • Blue badge holders can park free in designated disabled spots, but will pay to park in general parking spaces. Previously, they had to pay for any spaces
  • Parking in Bicester will be reduced by 10p an hour during redevelopment work. The council expects it will be complete by summer 2013

Figures also emerged showing the council stood to make £144,000 in evening fees across the district, more than £100,000 over its estimate of £39,000.

The joint committees’ recommendations are expected to be rubber stamped at a special executive meeting on July 26.

But the changes will not come into force for at least three months due to a legal process.

Cash saved internally by managing investments in house and interest from cash set aside for Bicester’s redevelopment will offset the cost of making the concessions.

Two petitions – from people in Banbury and Bicester – were handed in to the council with more than 3,000 signatures against plans for night fees in car parks.

Overview and scrutiny chairman Kieron Mallon said: “I think there were major lessons learned in how to deal with this. A detailed communication plan will be compiled to take into account the lessons learned from the April changes.”