A man who parked legally and went on vacation returned to find his car in a freshly painted handicap spot, with multiple tickets on it. Not only that, he got to watch the whole thing unfold on his security camera while he was away.

“It really put a damper on my holiday because I kept checking [the camera] to see what was wrong, and there was nothing I could do,” the man told BBC London. “I didn’t want to go out and do the things I wanted to do because I was worried about the amount of tickets I was accumulating.”

The man, who asked to remain anonymous (but posted a TikTok and Instagram video about the bizarre scenario), ended up receiving four tickets before he finally returned home.

“This is so crazy. #Croydon #Council making up the rules and bringing PTSD stress anxiety just because they can,” he wrote on social media. “Guys, please share this comment and blow this up because this is illegal. How can [a] council decide to make a bay ’round a parked car and then the person? We truly are living lawless time.”

The city council responds to the man’s handicap parking space painting video

Not only did he receive four tickets that he clearly did not deserve, but he was shamed on social media. He was called selfish, and some people on Facebook said his tires should be slashed.

Of course, the parking attendant had no idea that his car was legally parked before the paint job. The Croydon Council said the attendant, too, was the victim of abuse online.

“It really upset me. I just thought, ‘Why are you looking at me as the bad guy?'” he said. “But I do understand, somebody obviously didn’t know that I parked there before the bay was drawn.”

The Croydon Council eventually commented on his video, saying the tickets would be cancelled. But that was it.

“Nothing in writing. Only a comment from them on the video,” he said. “I think the issue here is because there was no communication in the beginning, there has been a snowball effect of wrongdoing.”

According to the council, painting the handicap spot around the man’s car was just “standard practice.” If they waited for cars to be moved, it could take weeks.

“Unfortunately, one of our parking attendants was not informed and issued parking tickets,” a council spokesperson said. “However, these were not processed into fines because we had a note on the system from our contractor.”