Richmond Council refunds residents who have lost small amounts of money in faulty parking machines with first-class postage stamps.

Rather than receiving his refund of £1.50 by a traditional method of payment, West Norwood resident David Mawson was surprised to find four stamps enclosed in a letter from Richmond Council parking officer Colin Penn this week.

Mr Mawson was visiting a friend when he put £1.50 in a parking machine in London Road, Twickenham at about 9pm on February 7 – but a ticket failed to materialise.

The letter, which was erroneously addressed to a Mr Seall, read: “Please accept my apologies for the problems you had at the Pay & Display machine London Road, Twickenham.

“I have enclosed a refund for £1.50 in first class postage stamps. It is LBRUT (London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames) practice to refund payments in first class postage stamps.”

Mr Mawson said he thought this was strange – and wondered whether he would be able to purchase items in a supermarket with postage stamps.

Richmond Council said this method of payment had always been policy for anything up to £1.50 because sending cash or raising a cheque for such a small amount would be too high.

A council spokesman said: “However, the council is currently reviewing how we process refunds, introducing a new process of bank transfer in the next few months.”