Inside the Lines

In Camberwell, England, Ruth Ducker left her house one day and found her Volkswagen Golf missing. She also found yellow "no parking" lines had been painted on the space she had parked in. It took three weeks for the local council to admit that workers had lifted the car out of the spot and painted the lines. A traffic warden came by later, saw the "illegally parked" car and had it towed. Worse, council officials said they would return the car only if Ducker paid the £800 parking fine. She refused, and it took two more months and the intervention of her local MP to get the council to return her car.