IN JUST over three weeks the London Borough of Hounslow will have made more than £20,000 in fines from a new camera in Feltham.
The cool sum has been highlighted by Princes Road resident Alex Maclennan whose wife received two parking tickets for pulling over at the train station to drop him off.
The couple were horrified to receive the £50 fines after pulling over in the bus stop at the station for a few seconds, they claim they only used it because it was empty.
But further investigation has revealed they are among 423 people to be issued penalty notices in the three and a half week period since the new device went live on March 15.
This will make the authority a whopping £21,150, assuming everyone pays the outstanding fine before it doubles to £100.
Mr Maclennan said: "It is a total abuse of tax payers' money. They are sitting up there with the CCTV cameras picking on residents for a minor infringement.
"I will be taking my campaign to the leader of the council, everybody needs to know about this. It stinks."
He is now avoiding the area "like the plague" and is walking into the station to avoid such a thing happening again.
The cameras were installed for March 1 by the London Borough of Hounslow who then started a two week grace period.
A spokesman for the council said 68 warnings were issued during this time.
He added: "Stopping in a bus stop is illegal. The congestion that occurs because cars stop at the bus stop affects the running of buses and on occasion emergency vehicles. CCTV enforcement is only used in areas where traditional enforcement has struggled to achieve compliance.
"Raising revenue is not an objective of parking enforcement and any income is used to develop transport schemes within the borough and other traffic related projects."
