Drivers have been fined for parking outside bays after a bungling local authority made the spaces too short after repainting the lines.
Retired architect Stan Green toured car parks in Newbury, West Berkshire with a measuring stick and discovered that some of the bays were made up to a yard too short.
Today, he is calling on West Berkshire Council to reimburse every motorist who has been fined for not wholly parking in the bays, which are too small.
He said: 'It seems as many as 90 per cent of the bays in Newbury are below the Government's recommended dimensions. Some are even too small for a Mini.
'And I failed to find one big enough to fully accommodate a 4x4 model or many larger saloon cars.
'During my investigation, I discovered that up to 30 per cent of vehicles were not full in their bay so, technically were breaching regulations, and making their owners liable for a fine.
'Bays were a whole metre short in one car park, which is absurd.'
The Government has recommended since 1994 that all council parking bays should be a minimum of 2.4 metres by 4.8 metres.
West Berkshire Council admitted that last year it fined 142 motorists £50 each for 'not parking wholly within the bay' in Newbury.
Mark Edwards, head of West Berkshire Council's highways and transport department, and Mark Cole, the county's traffic manager, both accepted the bays did not meet the recommended dimensions.
However, they ruled out putting up signs to warn motorists they risked breaking regulations, insisting it should be left to the county's 14 traffic wardens to decide whether or not to issue Fixed Penalty Notices.
In an exchange of emails, Mr Edwards told Mr Green: 'I can confirm that in the past financial year, 142 Penalty Charge Notices were issued in off-street car parks for having parked beyond bay markings.
"I don't have a breakdown of the statistic, and I won't be issuing instructions to my CEOs (Civil Enforcement Officers).
'They are quite capable of using their discretion when considering parking contraventions, and will issue PCNs in accordance with the regulations, using their common sense.'
In a statement, Mr Cole added: 'I can categorically state that our bays have not been deliberately built smaller in order to collect fines.
'Probably not enough attention was paid to building them to the standard size.
'However, it does mean that we can provide more car parking for more people coming to the town.
'If we built new bays tomorrow, they would all be 2.4 metres by 4.8 metres, as that is the standard we would be expected to provide, but we won't be doing anything to the ones in place at the moment.
'Regulations state that it is an offence not to park entirely within a bay.
'Even a wheel on a white line adjoining the next bay will leave an owner liable to a fine, which would depend on the CEO's discretion. Some might issue a fine, others might not.'
But Mr Green says the council have failed to provide proper parking infrastructure.
He added: 'It would be an absolute scandal if fines have been issued to motorists whose vehicles have been found outside a bay, when the bay was not the right size.
'I don't think West Berkshire's transport and parking people have deliberately made the bays smaller to mug motorists.
'In truth, it looks like incompetence, and a failure in its duty to provide a proper infrastructure.
'It merely required simple observation, a tape-measure, white paint, a brush, and a desire to do the job properly.
'It also seems that traffic wardens have failed to realise that a vast number of bays were the wrong size.'
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