A lawyer has claimed that hundreds of parking offenders may have been dealt with illegally -- because the Act that brought them to court was not yet law.

Phillip Perinchief said those people who had been processed under the Traffic Offences Procedure Validation Act 1998 in the last few weeks should at least have had their cases adjourned until it was determind whether the law had been enacted by Governor Thorold Masefield.

It was confirmed to The Royal Gazette that the Act was due to be signed into law by Mr. Masefield by the close of business yesterday.

Mr. Perinchief said the signing was a deliberate act and not a coincidence.

"It looks very bad, signing it today,'' he said. "They have been allowing these matters to be dealt with under an Act that is not legal until it is signed into law.

"These people have been dealt with illegally. They ought to have waited until it was confirmed that this matter was law.'' Mr. Perinchief had a client with a parking matter in Magistrates' Court last week and after raising concerns with the Magistrate over whether the Act was law, had the case adjourned until it could be determined if it was.

Already around 800 people have been dealt with under the Act and court officials said they expect to process the remaining 5,000 or so by the beginning of May.

But Mr. Perinchief said that unless the Act had been signed it was not law, and it was patently wrong for people to be dealt with. The notices should not have been sent out until it was put into effect.

"If people have been dealt with illegally, then they have recourse to have their money returned,'' he said. "If it wasn't signed into law by the Governor, then it wasn't law. There seems to be an unholy rush to get these notices sent out.'' Deputy Governor Peter Willis confirmed the Act was due to be signed by the Governor yesterday. Attorney General Elliott Mottley said he couldn't comment on something that was currently being dealt with in Magistrates' Court.

Mr. Perinchief is set to challenge the whole Act in the Supreme Court -- an action which cannot take place until the Act is law -- and if he is successful, the whole process could be thrown in to chaos.

The Traffic Offences Procedure Validation Act meant that people who had got parking violations and had come to court after the six month period in which the parking tickets were valid had expired and who had been sent away, would now be called back to court.

Courts administration officer Tracey Kelly said he expected that around 5,000 parking offenders would be dealt with by the beginning of May.

He said around 800 had already been processed, which included those people whose offences dated back to between January, 1997 and June, 1997.

The letters to the offenders had gone out, and most had paid the $50 fine shortly afterwards.