A motorist has turned the tables on a council by successfully suing it for ?20,000 for stress caused from receiving four parking tickets.
Zun Noon, who refused to pay the four ?50 fines, claimed he suffered emotional distress after the authority sent bailiffs to reclaim its money.
When a court found in his favour, Mr Noon gave the council a taste of its own medicine and sent his own bailiffs to a council office to collect his damages.
Mr Noon's farcical battle against Newham Council in east London started in October 2007 when he was apparently captured by a council CCTV camera committing the parking offences.
Two more fines came the following month, and a fourth penalty - which was a duplicate of a previous one and was later dropped.
Mr Noon, of Tower Hamlets decided to give Newham launched his counterclaim for emotional distress at Bow County court.
After Newham Council failed to attend the hearing the judge awarded ?20,000 - ?5,000 for each ticket
A further hearing at the High Court took place, giving Newham a chance to challenge the award - but once again the council failed to turn up.
Bailiffs went to Newham's 'Parking Shop' in East Ham last November to present a 'notice of seizure' and began taking computers and putting them in a van. The council took 30 minutes before paying up.
Si-Ling Pang, a spokeswoman for Newham Council said: 'They were unplugging computers and taking them away. If they'd unplugged the server it would have cost us thousands of pounds worth of damage so we had to pay to stop it.'
The cost to taxpayers has since risen to ?27,566.83 including a service charge and costs resulting from the time taken to settle the case.
The council, which claims it has never received the court summons, has since taken the case back to Bow County Court, which has ruled in its favour, and ordered Noon to repay the money.
But the council may struggle to get the money back from Mr Noon as he is understood to have spent all the money.
