Motorists were bemused to find their cars towed from outside their homes in Fulham minutes after temporary parking suspension notices were put up hours before without notice.

At least four cars were moved in Reporton Road on Friday (February 17) morning and also issued standard £130 Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

One confused resident, Edgar Morse, complained to Hammersmith and Fulham Council and was told his fine would be cancelled.

Mr Morse was concerned other residents issued fines will unnecessarily pay up.

He said: “I’m glad its been cancelled but it should never have been issued in the first place.

"But some people might not have the time to chase this up and just pay the fine.”

Mr Morse, a 35-year-old sports producer, said he had initially thought his car had been stolen, before finding it moved further down the road, with the PCN attached.

He said: “It’s just ridiculous. I went out and thought my car had been nicked.

"That’s what you’d think if your car wasn’t where you left it, but it had been towed down the road.

“My ticket was issued at 10.45am and the council later admitted to me that the suspended parking area signs had gone up that morning.

“The council did not knock on any doors or take any action at all to inform people.

“They put up a sign above a car, then gave a ticket for parking the car under the sign.

"It’s incredible really, I can’t believe they did it.”

The temporary parking restrictions had been implemented to allow the water board to repair a mains leak.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council told getwestlondon the tickets have been cancelled, and allayed fears raised by Mr Morse that some motorists may have already paid the PCN.

A spokesperson said: “To allow Thames Water access to quickly fix a burst water pipe in Reporton Road earlier this month, we had to issue an emergency suspension of parking bays and relocate some residents’ vehicles from that area.

“The PCNs issued are cancelled without the need for the motorist to contact us.

"A total of six PCNs were issued and these have all been cancelled.”

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!