A DISABLED pensioner has won an eight-month battle against a parking ticket.

Elizabeth Steskens, aged 67, who has only one arm, was given the ticket when she parked in a disabled bay outside Bolton Town Hall late on a Sunday night.

A warden claimed her disabled badge was not properly displayed.

Mrs Steskens wrote countless letters over eight months, finally forcing Bolton Council to overturn her £60 fine.

The pensioner, who has lung disease, took her case to the National Parking Adjudication Service, which ruled in her favour.

Mrs Stesken, of Manchester Road, Blackrod said: "The council were adamant I should pay the fine because the expiry date was obscured when I put the badge on my sun visor.

"I sent them proof it was valid, but their attitute was astonishing.

"I kept getting these frustrating, bureaucratic letters saying I have found no grounds for the cancellation of your charge, and I am confident the offence took place, but they were all unsigned.

"These people were in charge of whether I would have to pay an unjust fine and they werent putting their names on the letters.

"I urge anyone who thinks their fine is wrong to fight it."

Leading Tory councillor John Walsh blamed the council for allowing traffic wardens to become "over-zealous".

He said: "I agree entirely that people who have received tickets unjustly should fight them. The system does no good for Boltons image and undermines issuing legitimate tickets because it brings the whole system into disrepute.

"Its about time the council backed off. The unsigned letters are representative of a very impersonal, hard approach. Justifying correctly issued tickets is a necessary job, but the system is too rigorous and needs softening."

A council spokesman said: "We believed the ticket was issued correctly as Mrs Steskens was not displaying her blue badge correctly. It had been placed under the sun visor which meant the expiry date was not visible.

"She had already been warned about this in October, 2004, when she received a ticket for the same offence.

"But that was the first time she had received a ticket for this offence so it was waived and she was reminded that she needs to display her blue badge correctly, which it clearly states in the guidelines that came with the badge.

"All our copies of the letters sent to her are signed by Customer Services Officer, not a named individual.

"All our parking customer services officers are able to deal with any case, so when people ring the telephone number given in the letter they can speak to anyone rather than having to wait for a named individual who may be busy."