Drivers have to read between the lines

Although I have been driving for the past 25 years, I would not consider myself to be an expert in the Highway Code.

However, one thing I am pretty sure of is that the white boxes painted along our roads are for parking and the yellow boxes are either reserved, no-parking or restricted parking areas. Now that's not too hard to understand.

So could someone please explain to me how come I got a parking ticket with the words "restricted parking" written on it while I was parked in a white box? Naturally, I was somewhat confused about this issue and decided to walk up and down the road to see if there were any signs relating to the restricted parking zone. Well to my disbelief I found a small sign with the words "for unloading only".

However, the sign was not facing oncoming traffic but was facing the adjacent wall. My point is, if this is a restricted parking zone, why were the lines not painted yellow? Could this be a case of misleading the public, with two traffic indications contradicting each other? All I am saying is, if the local councils are going to put up signs everywhere at least they should have the decency to paint the no-parking areas yellow so it is plain and clear for everyone to see and not just for the wardens who know about these parking traps. Instead of pointing them out to the council, all they do is slap a ticket on your windscreen.