A man whose elderly mother was fined by the council after her car was towed away without warning has said she was “treated like dirt”.

Paul Adams said his 85-year-old mother Shirley was not told that Enfield Council was planning to suspend a parking bay near her house on Lavender Hill while utility works were carried out.

She only found out when she walked out of her house to find her car had gone – and she was given a £265 penalty charge notice (PCN) for breaching parking rules.

Mr Adams said it would have been easy for the council to tell his mother about the suspension because she has a parking permit.

He said: “One day she came out and her car was gone. They had suspended the parking without telling her.

“They did not have the courtesy to try and track her down and say, ‘we are suspending parking’.

“They could have given advance notice to people in the immediate area, or found her, but didn’t do anything.”

Mr Adams said the only warning the council gave was a sign on a nearby road saying parking would be suspended.

But as his mother only uses the car on the odd occasion, she did not spot the sign.

Mr Adams slammed the way the council handled his mother’s case, saying it dealt with her in a way that lacked warmth and compassion.

He said: “Their responses have been terrible.

“Enfield Council were not interested, really. In a nutshell, that is it.

“Their attitude was, ‘we have no time to contact people if the parking is suspended’.

“My mother was stressed about it. She still is a bit, really. She feels like she has been treated like dirt.”

Mr Adams’ mother was offered a £200 refund as a “goodwill gesture” by the council and given information about how to appeal the PCN.

But he said she had to give the council her bank details three times before the £200 was finally paid into her account.

Mr Adams added that his mother did not want to bother appealing the PCN.

He said: “She decided it wasn’t worth the effort for the pain and suffering of the appeals process.”

An Enfield Council spokesperson said: “From time to time, parking bays will have to be suspended and plenty of notice is given to vehicle owners to remove their cars.

“In this instance, a utility company requested the suspension of the bay. As the car in question had not been removed on time, the council’s enforcement team was asked to take action.

“If motorists feel that a removal and PCN have been issued incorrectly, they can appeal to the council and to independent adjudicators.

“In this particular case, as a goodwill gesture, the council refunded the removal fee of £200 to the motorist on October 26.

“Further information was offered to the family on how to appeal the PCN.”