True, her car was straddled across two spaces. So technically it was parked illegally.

However, the fine was issued because a valid ticket was not on display.

But this was no ordinary situation, as even the most cursory inspection of the car would have made obvious.

The reason the ticket had disappeared from the dashboard was because the car had been smashed into by another vehicle.

In fact, as our pictures show, it had been hit with such a wallop that the front axle snapped.

With all that in mind, you can imagine how Joanne Billington felt when she left work in Oldham to discover the wreckage of her Ford Ka and then the parking ticket.

What was the warden thinking of? Probably one ticket nearer a monthly target.

But the story does not end there. Oldham Council appears to have adopted a high-and-mighty attitude towards this whole affair.

Instead of writing it off as the work of an over-zealous employee and apologising to the poor woman, a spokesman said the warden did not realise the vehicle had been shunted into a tree.

But in the cicumstances it would, subject to the ticket proving valid, write-off the outstanding fine.

How magnanimous.

Oldham Council operates under the motto "Dare to be Wise". Need we say more?