A HAMPSHIRE pensioner has been arrested after starting a one-man campaign against parking in his community.

Chris Perry was detained for alleged criminal damage after putting homemade parking tickets' on neighbours' cars parked near his home in Oliver's Battery.

He claims residents have been growing concerned about four old cars regularly left in Old Kennels Lane which make it difficult for refuse collectors, trucks servicing the nearby pig farm and drivers reversing out of their driveways.

Mr Perry thought the stickers, which said This is Old Kennels Lane and not Old Bangers Lane' would come off easily with warm water but he was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage after residents complained that they couldn't get them off.

Mr Perry, 61, made national headlines last year after using his car to block in a dustcart that he claimed was starting work too early.

He also made the news after being the victim of crime three times in nine months whilst working as a researcher for the British Crime Survey.

He said: "I thought the owners would read the stickers and just pull them off.

"Then a police car came roaring up. A constable spoke to me and at the end of it he said he was arresting me.

"He was very pleasant and highly efficient but it was a very long process.

"The police said the car owners had tried to remove the stickers and they had threatened to take the paint off. I didn't realise that would happen - I thought a little hot water would dissolve the glue.

"It is an over-the-top situation. If the police can spend their time worrying about stickers on second-hand vehicles they could spend some time looking at more serious traffic matters."

Mr Perry has made an official complaint about his arrest.

A police spokeswoman said: "The police are duty-bound, if people make complaints, to investigate and take appropriate action."

City councillor Brian Collin said he did not think the parked cars represented a hazard. He said they often acted beneficially by slowing traffic.