Maybe he didn’t want to be torched. A lot of people don’t. Some even specifically say so. And that FAR outweighs a half inch that it’s doubtful they could even measure that accurately.
This is just wanton cruelty.
I know it sounds cruel but if you think about it, when it comes to weights and measures there is always going to be people who either just squeak in or barely miss out. Ask any parent who has ever paid big bucks to get their children into an amusement park only to have them barred from all of the good rides because they were a whisker short. You just never hear about the people who got buried with a half inch to spare.
Maybe they will luck out and public shaming will cause the council to reconsider but that will just lead to complaints by other people.