A MOTORIST has criticised 'poor communication' between two councils after his wife's disabled blue badge was deemed not valid in a Lyme Regis car park.

Peter Skipper and his wife Susanne were visiting the coastal earlier this month. After being told by West Dorset District Council he could park free of charge for three hours at the Monmouth Beach car park, Mr Skipper was 'shocked' to receive a £60 fine.

Control of the car park was handed over to Lyme Regis Town Council in April, but a list of valid car parks had not been updated by West Dorset District Council.

Mr Skipper has criticised both councils for being 'unsympathetic' to disabled people.

He said: "We meticulously checked that we had parked at Monmouth Beach because there is another car park that runs into it with a different name.

"I couldn't believe I had a penalty notice with a £60 fine on the window. I was absolutely shocked."

"It appears Lyme Regis Town Council are quite happy to charge disabled drivers for using their car park, which seems a bit wrong too," he added.

"Having followed the instructions by every letter, we spoke to both councils and they were fairly unsympathetic to what had happened to a disabled person."

West Dorset District Council said it is working with Lyme Regis Town Council to see if the fine can be cancelled following the 'unfortunate incident'.

West Dorset District Council’s environmental protection and assets executive portfolio holder, Cllr John Russell said: “Unfortunately the temporary permit was issued with an out of date list of the car parks that are in the scheme from one of our tourist information centres.

“The district council’s tourist information centres were given up to date information in April when the changes came into effect and this is the first unfortunate incident of this nature and therefore we are carrying out checks and will remove any out of date leaflets that may still exist.

“We are working Lyme Regis Town Council to see if the fine can be cancelled .”

Lyme Regis Town Council said they have advised Mr Skipper to lodge an appeal over his penalty charge.

Town clerk John Wright said: “Parking charges apply to all vehicles in town council car parks, including those displaying a disabled badge.

“Unfortunately, the district council has not removed Monmouth Beach car park from the list and we have notified them of this.

“The enforcement officer has carried out his job in issuing a fixed penalty notice to a vehicle that has not paid for and displayed a valid ticket," added Mr Wright.

“Mr Skipper has queried his fixed penalty and we have advised him to lodge an appeal, which we have yet to receive.”