A pensioner has hit out at a “money grabbing system” after the council refused to cancel a parking fine he claimed was issued unfairly.

John Harvey, who lives on Wellington Road, was given a £130 fine after he did not display his blue badge while parking outside his home.

The 88-year-old had to rush indoors to help his wife, who has Alzheimer’s and was in distress, and forgot to put the blue badge on his dashboard.

When he came back out to the car, he found a traffic warden issuing a parking ticket.

Mr Harvey said: “My wife is 86, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and is disabled. She was uncomfortable, and I had to get her into the house quickly.

“All we had done is forgotten to put the blue badge on the windscreen.”

He explained the situation to the warden, who said he could not cancel it there and then but took a photograph of the blue badge and gave assurances that the fine would be written off.

But Mr Harvey, who is his wife’s full-time carer, was surprised to receive a letter telling him to pay the £130 penalty charge notice (PCN) – reduced to £65 if he paid within 14 days.

When he appealed against the penalty, he received a letter from the council’s head of parking stating: “I am not prepared to cancel the PCN”.

The fine was eventually overturned after Mr Harvey wrote a letter to Enfield MPs Joan Ryan, Bambos Charalambous and Kate Osamor, copying in the council, local newspapers, and the contractor in charge of issuing traffic penalties, Oldham-based NSL.

In the letter, Mr Harvey hit out at a “money-grabbing system” that would not allow for extenuating circumstances such as the ones he and his wife had faced.

He received a reply from Ms Osamor saying she was taking the matter up personally and would ask the council to refund the PCN charge.

He said he then received a “veiled letter of apology” stating there had been a miscommunication between a parking attendant and the council.

Mr Harvey said NSL – which he claimed had still not apologised to him – and the council should act more sympathetically instead of behaving in a “legalistic” manner.

Enfield Council and NSL were approached for comment.