Disabled war veteran Ron Dean went to Oxford's Remembrance Day ceremony again this year, as he has every year since the end of the Second World War.

But this year was different. This year, a police blunder meant Ron, of North Place, Headington, and his son, David, had a £20 parking ticket slapped on their car.

Now, David has branded traffic wardens as "callous" and blasted the police for mistakenly telling him he could park in Norham Gardens.

Ron, 80, who was five years in a Nazi PoW camp in Poland, has not missed a service in St Giles since 1945. He said: "There is no other way I could have got to the Cenotaph if it wasn't for my son.

"He was allowed to drop me off so I could take a seat at the service and then went back up the road and asked the police where he could park."

David, of Farmer Place, Marston, said a police officer told him it was fine to park in Norham Gardens. But he added: "When I came back, cars were bumper to bumper and all had fines.

"I think it's callous that there wasn't special provision for the service, as many couldn't have got there any other way than by car."

An Oxford Police spokesman apologised to motorists who had received tickets. He said: "Unfortunately, one of our officers was under the impression that parking was allowed in Norham Gardens."

The force will ask Control Plus, which issues the tickets, to waive the fines.

But Steve Egan, of the county council's environmental services, said: "We can't just say that, because there is a service on, we should decide that a restricted-parking area near the event should be suspended."

He added there was a pay-and-display area in Norham Gardens, with a £1 charge for all-day parking.

Story date: Tuesday 16 November

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.