Cr Henry Meskauskas said the ranger should have properly assessed the circumstances before he booked St Vincent de Paul Society volunteer Ivan Pace, 71, of East Maitland and another 78-year-old volunteer for parking in a disabled space while collecting bread at Green Hills shopping centre.

The two men were booked at 6.30pm on Tuesday last week – and there were 50 empty parking spaces around Mr Pace’s car.

“What was the ranger doing there at 6.30pm?” Cr Meskauskas asked.

“Was he doing his shopping? 

“Normal hours for rangers are from 9am to 5pm – now all of a sudden, we have this situation.

“Was this ranger trying to be smart and big note himself?”

Cr Meskauskas said he planned to raise the issue when council next meets at the end of January.

“It is probably too late to do anything for these two men now because the matter is already in the system,” he said.

“The way things look, it seems as if nothing can be done until after Christmas.

“But this ranger should have been able to properly assess the situation and waived the fines.”

Cr Meskauskas said he was also angry that council had not got back to him with information about the incident after he contacted them.

“This is why people get so cranky and disappointed with council,” he said.

“There should be compassion from people, particularly at this time of year - and it looks as if council is not applying compassion.”

Cr Meskauskas said he knew rangers had tough jobs.

“But they should have a time frame where issues are properly looked at before action like this is taken,” he said.