Angry homeowners fined for parking their cars just inches over their driveway on to a footpath have united against Kingston Council for issuing “unreasonable” parking tickets.

At least four people living in a quiet cul-de-sac in Chessington have recently received penalty notices for parking their vehicles just slightly off their drives.

Homeowners in Charles Babbage Close said the petty parking penalties were becoming too much and many of them had now resulted to parking in the street in order to avoid being fined on their own driveways Pat Barrie, 47, who has lived in the road for more than 10 years was given a penalty notice of £55 for parking just off the line of her own driveway in February.

She said: “I could understand if the cars were causing a problem but we live in a no-through road with no traffic passing through.

“To get a fine because the wheels are over the line even when there is no pavement – this is an abuse of the system.

“The council is taking advantage of decent, honest, working people. If we do something wrong I am all for a penalty, but this is just taking it one step further. We are really angry about it.”

Mrs Barrie said she parked the car slightly out because thieves had previously used her car as a way to hoist themselves up to steal lead from the garage roof.

One family who has been fined twice this year has been forced to park a second car in their front garden to avoid crossing their driveway line.

Retired consulting engineer Bernard Reeves, 72, said it was "inconvenient and cuts the grass unnecessarily”.

A council spokesman said: “There has been a London-wide ban on footway parking since the Greater London Powers Act of 1974, unless there is signage to show otherwise.

“This road, does not have any such signs and therefore, any footway parking is considered a contravention, which may lead into a penalty charge notice being issued.

“Although we appreciate that parking in this position would not be hindering any pedestrians, being parked in this way could cause hindrance to any service vehicle that had an emergency to attend to.”

The council said reasons for enforcing the footway parking contraventions may not always be apparent to motorists, however it said in Mrs Barrie’s case it was appropriate because of the accessibility requited by services.