COUNCIL chiefs dashed the hopes of hundreds of motorists by insisting that they would not be refunded for parking fines.

Darlington Borough Council had been examining the legality of its fixed penalty notices after a solicitor spotted a potential loophole.

There was speculation that the council may have to hand back up to £70,000 in parking fines after the case of Simon Catterall, public relations officer for the Tees Valley Law Society, came to light.

Mr Catterall was issued with a ticket earlier this year after he stopped briefly in Northumberland Street - one of several roads in and around the town centre to have parking meters installed last November. But he had his £30 fine waived after he found vital wording to be missing from the notice.

After Mr Catterall contested the matter, the council accepted that the ticket did not state that it was an offence under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for a driver to fail to pay the excess charge.

It led to the council's legal team having to review the legality of all the tickets it had issued since the controversial charges came into effect - raising the hopes of motorists who had been hit by fines.

More than 2,300 fines have been issued since November, totalling about £70,000.

However, a council spokesman said yesterday that the council had reached a decision that part of the notice was legally correct to allow fines to be issued and collected.

"The wording was correct for us to collect the excess charge, but the wording was incorrect if we were looking to take out proceedings against people who refused to pay it," he said.

It means the hundreds of drivers who have already paid their fines will not get a refund.

"The wording on notices has now been changed.

People who have already been prosecuted for not paying and now want to pursue the matter further will have to take their case up with a solicitor.

The council spokesman said: "Those cases would be dealt with by the courts and considered on their individual merits."