London councils liable for £5m parking bill

Five London councils could be forced to repay millions in parking fines after an investigation revealed that parking bays reserved for diplomats were unlawful.

Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Islington all admitted to the BBC that they had failed to gain the necessary permission from the Department of Transport before installing road signs restricting 346 parking spaces to foreign embassy staff use only.

As the road signs do not comply with the law, no one can be penalised for parking in the bays and all tickets previously issued could be invalid.