A NEW parking rule which has netted up to £28,000 in seven days for Barnet Council has been branded “robbery” by angry residents.

Code 11 was added to the list of offences in the borough on December 1 and has led to 480 tickets being issued in just a week, despite not being widely publicised.

It means people parked in spaces which have facilities for pay-by-phone parking can still be given a £60 ticket even if the meter is out of order.

However, one victim has accused the council of trying to “raise cash” with the ruling for the struggling department.

Councillor Brian Coleman, who is in charge of parking, has announced plans to privatise the service which is set to miss its budget targets for this year, because of costs to bring machines and signage up to date.

In September he said he was not “convinced” by the current service offered by the department, and said there was a push to move towards cashless parking through a pay by phone system.

Lesley Mason was caught out after parking in Avenue Road, North Finchley, on Saturday afternoon where the machine was out of order.

The 43-year-old single mother told the Times Series: “It's just disgusting they can introduce this without telling anyone at all about it. I'm not going to pay it's not right.

“How can they just bring in a rule like this when it suits them? Not everyone has the ability to pay by phone when they park. So what are they supposed to do?

“I'm absolutely furious. It seems like daylight robbery to me. This council has lost millions in Icelandic banks and looks to be raking it back through these methods.”

Ms Mason, of Glenhurst Road, said she has seen a van full of parking inspectors patrolling streets with broken meters and ticketing up to a dozen cars at a time.

She added: “Their attitude stinks. They are sending this van out and the inspectors are walking around laughing and cheering when they put a ticket on a car.

“It's coming up to Christmas and people are already short of cash, so it's going to really hurt a lot of families.”

A statement from the council said this method was employed during snowy periods as they were targeting streets around shops which had been cleared.

The statement added there had “never” been a provision to pay in a bay where a machine was out of order, and fees are reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days.

Code 11 was brought in because of a loss of revenue because of vandalised machines and complaints from residents, in line with other London boroughs.

It added: “By bringing in cashless parking, this gives drivers another option on how to pay, which once registered, is more convenient and quicker.

“We have given an initial grace period for residents to get used to the new service before starting to enforce it.”

Anyone with problems using cashless parking can contact parking services, the council said.

A Christmas parking promotion run in recent years by the authority, offering free parking for residents after 3pm, is not being done this year because of the associated costs.