RED-FACED Haringey Council has been forced to refund a £250 parking fine after towing a man's car by mistake.

Robert Branston had booked off the afternoon on Friday, July 9, so he could collect his son from school before heading to Devon for a family holiday.

The sales manager, who has worked at MBA, a Tottenham printing firm, for two years, had parked on a single yellow line, in Marigold Road, underneath a sign which read "parking restrictions do not apply today".

But when the east London returned to pick up his car, he realised he's been towed and had to fork out £250 to have his car returned and protect his family from disappointment.

A second motorist, parked in Marigold Road, also fell victim to the warden's error, but received only a ticket and did not have his car towed.

The frustrated father said: "It is a large sum of money that I simply did not have especially as I was just about to head on holiday with my family.

"I don't know why I was given the ticket in the first place. It's quite possible that parking wardens didn't realise the sign was there, or maybe they work on commission and just hand out tickets to make up the numbers.

"It ruined the start of our holiday, but we were able to have a good time despite that."

Mr Branston sent three emails to Haringey Council's parking department to appeal against what he called "an open and shut case".

And though it took the council, almost three weeks to consider the case, it appears the local authority agrees and have pledged to refund the sum.

In a statement, the council said: "We have investigated Mr Branston's case and will be refunding the money."

On his ticket it states, Mr Branston was parked in "a restricted area during prescribed hours" but the restrictions only apply on Tottenham Hotspur match days to prevent parking misery for residents.

He said: "I sent three emails to the council, contacted Tottenham MP David Lammy who wrote to the council, and all I got back was a generated email response.

"The attitude from Haringey Council was simply that giving me a wrong ticket was not a priority."

Mr Branston said he felt local authorities banked on motorists who had been treated unfairly not taking the matter further.

He said: "It is a lot of money, but is it worth the cost of getting a legal team and fight it out in court? I'm not eligible for legal aid, and I wouldn't be able to afford it. Being given a ticket unfairly is like being stuck between a rock and a hard place."