A woman's bid to renew her resident’s parking permit has been denied twice because the council’s booking system did not recognise her name.

Lam Man Shan Sally has had a Brighton and Hove City Council zone J parking permit in her full name for some years.

All her identity documents and council tax are in her full name and for the past three years she has not had any problems renewing the permit.

But this year her application was rejected twice. Mrs Lam said: “My parking permit expired on August 20 so I made the payment and applied for renewal on August 13.

“By August 30, I was notified that my renewal application was rejected because my name did not match their system.

“I’ve been living at the same address in Brighton for over three years and I’ve always registered for council tax accounts, parking permits, etc, under my full name.

“After reviewing my records, I found everything was registered under my full name.

“I reflected this to the organisation and provided the passport, driving licence and council tax billing address as evidence to prove that I have always used my full name.

“After this proof, I received an email confirming that my name in the system matches my passport – even though it has always been the same.”

Mrs Lam then reapplied to renew her parking permit but her application was rejected again – and even though she received visitor permits without any issues.

She said: “I have successfully renewed my parking permit and bought visitor permits multiple times.

“This time, however, I am deeply troubled. Every day, I fear receiving a penalty charge notice and constantly check if a parking officer is issuing a ticket.

“This endless worry is overwhelming and I don’t know when it will end.”

Even though all the details on Mrs Lam’s permit and her documents matched, the issue appeared to be with her name on the council’s “MyAccount” system which listed her as “Sally Lam”.

Councillor Trevor Muten, the cabinet member for transport, parking and the public realm, said: “It is important residents register their MyAccount with the same name they use on the official documents they provide.

“Our old system did not pick up on inconsistencies. The system we now use will do.

“This is partly to prevent residents from being able to use official documentation to register multiple different accounts with slight name variations and therefore access more permits than they are entitled to.

“We have discussed with the resident how they should change their MyAccount profile name so this matches the name on the documents they have provided. Once done, they will then be able to renew their permit.

“We will always try to help navigate this process and would recommend anyone experiencing problems call our customer service line on 01273 296622 and someone can talk them through the process.

“If the resident gets in touch with our team via the number above, someone will be able to help with their renewal.”

At the third attempt, after changing her name on “MyAccount”, Mrs Lam has renewed her permit.