Furious driver issues DIY parking ticket to 'selfish' driver who blocked him in

Stuart Barber's van for work was parked in. Photo / Daily Mail

A raging motorist issued a DIY parking fine to a 'selfish' driver who blocked in his van and stopped him from getting to work.

Stuart Barber angrily posted the demand on the offending Dodge Caliber's windscreen - adding the £385 ($758) charge would be reduced to £192.50 if paid within seven days.

The 50-year-old, who lives in Bishop's Stortford, near London Stansted Airport in the UK, said parking in his area was an "absolute nightmare" thanks to a lack of parking permits for residents and yellow lines recently installed by the council, reports the Daily Mail.

Stuart Barber issued this invoice to the offending vehicle. Photo / Daily Mail

And on April 18 he snapped after emerging from his home to find a car parked inches away from his van.

Taking matters into his own hands, Stuart drew up the DIY invoice.

"You get to the point where you have to start making a stand. We just have a really serious parking problem on Rhodes Avenue," he said.

All other residents living within one mile of the town centre have been given parking permits, he also claimed.

"Every morning is an absolute rat race with idiot commuters and office workers in Stortford and people going to Stansted [airport] on their holidays.

"I've had people parking across the bottom of my drive blocking me in for days while they've gone on holiday. It's madness."

He said he had purposefully parked close to the car behind him - which belongs to his son, who was away at the time - in order to give another person space to park in front of him, before the yellow lines begin.

But despite this the "inconsiderate" driver chose to park nose-to-nose with him - leaving a gap of more than 1 metre behind them.

After calling police - a move he said he often resorts to - to report that he had been blocked in, Stuart was left dismayed by their response.

Stuart Barber took matters into his own hands. Photo / Daily Mail

He said: "Normally the police are cool, they ask the registration number and then call them up and say 'you are blocking someone, you need to move'.

"This time they called me up and said 'sorry we can't find a number for the person' which is fine but then I get a phone call from a PCSO [police community support officer] and she was fuming.

"She said I can't invoice people for parking and that it was my fault for backing up against my son, and she removed the invoice."

According to Stuart, residents regularly suffer verbal abuse by drivers keen to bag themselves a spot.

Taxi drivers, he continued, leave their personal vehicles and taxis there at all times, swapping them at the start and end of each day.

Adding insult to injury, workers from construction sites in the town centre park their vans in dangerous locations, causing a hazard to oncoming traffic, he contends.

"We accept the fact that we are in an area without controlled parking but when people park like d**** there's no excuse.

"You just think 'I wouldn't dream of doing that'.

"People are so selfish and extremely rude - the amount of residents who have had mouthfuls off them is ridiculous.

"I've been told to f*** off a number of times, and my partner has been sworn at too.

"The lack of support or empathy from the council and the police just makes it worse."

Members of the public are not legally allowed to issue fines to other motorists even if they are parked illegally.

A spokeswoman for Hertfordshire Constabulary said: "Police were called at 12.16pm on Wednesday, April 18 to reports of a parking dispute in Rhodes Avenue, Bishop's Stortford.

"It was reported that a silver Dodge Caliber had parked in such a position that a resident was unable to move their vehicle."