Paying the price

He was incensed to find the 40 penalty after he was apparently spotted leaving the premises on security cameras. Dr Grabsch has lived in Yorkshire for more than a decade and says he likes the people and the countryside. He is bemused at the "big brother" nature of parking rules.

Yet Professor Grabsch also makes an interesting point about the "level of exploitation" he finds in Britain compared to his native Germany – a comment, if ever there was one, on the over-regulation of our society which the Government intends to address in its much-vaunted Freedom Bill.

The problem is that rules do need to be enforced. The difficulty remains in distinguishing between those people who make a genuine mistake and those who persistently flout rules – a case of the many paying the price for a few.