Motorist fined 'after council moves her car on to double yellow lines'

Manchester City Council fined her after moving her car into a restricted zone

Clare Morris was fined after council contractors allegedly moved her car onto double yellow lines (Clare Morris)

A woman has claimed that she was given a parking ticket after the council moved her car into a restricted parking zone while they painted yellow lines.

Clair Morris, from West Didsbury, Manchester, said she parked her Mazda legally near her home.

However, in order to paint new yellow lines at the spot she was parked on Northern Grove, Manchester City Council moved her car to the other side of the road - into a restricted parking zone.

She returned to her car to find it on the other side of the road, with a parking ticket tucked under her windscreen wiper.

Shocked by the "crazy" fine, she sent a tweet to the council, but received no response. She posted about the ticket incident on her Facebook page, where a friend who works at the BBC spotted it.

The BBC published the story, and contacted the council, who responded with a statement saying they had cancelled the ticket.

Clair had no contact with the council, but was happy that the situation was resolved.

She said: "I'm fine with it. I'm not going to chase them for an apology or anything!"

Writing on Twitter, she said that "justice prevailed".

A Manchester City Council spokesman told BBC News that its contractors apologised for the error, and say they have now been told to follow the council's code of conduct more closely.

According to a Freedom of Information request made by the Manchester Evening News, the council made around £14.8 million from parking fines from 2013 to 2014.