A London woman living on a pension has been ordered to pay $2,000 to a wealthy businessman for scratches she left on his Mercedes in a "no parking" note.

ADVERTISEMENT

Louise Hamilton was given 28 days to pay damages for "wanton damages" over an incident in August 2004, when she found a Mercedes Benz parked in her front garden and mostly blocking the front entrance to her apartment above a dentist's office.

She wrote a note asking the owner not to park against her front door, and said in court she "squiggled" the pen to make it work, which left scratches on the Mercedes, The Times of London reported.

District Judge Sandip Sethi awarded damages of $2,000 to the car's owner, John Leat, a former chairman of an offshore investment company who once worked for the royal family of Dubai.

Leat said the case had been "a waste of time" but he did not regret pursuing it.

"It was a point of principle," he said.