AS an urban myth, the story of the dodgy Bristol Zoo parking attendant spread around the world like a virus.

After an April Fool's story in the Evening Post three years ago, the rogue tale of a parking attendant who pocketed cash from visiting cars and coaches for decades, made its way around the globe on spam emails, blogs and internet forums.

Bristol Zoo parking scam urban myth is a work of fiction

But now Bristol's most famous urban myth is to find a new lease of life, after a US author picked up on the story.

Like millions of people around the world, Arizona-based writer Bill Lamperes first heard about the story after receiving a joke email, which had been forwarded from a friend.

"I got this email in my inbox," Bill tells me, when I call the States and interrupt his camping holiday in Oregon.

"I didn't think anything about it at first, as I often get these jokey emails – I guess we all do. But then when I did read it, I found myself chuckling.

"Then I stopped and thought about it. In my own imagination, I became intrigued about what a parking attendant would do once he started pocketing the cash.

"After the story had been playing on my mind for a couple of days, it dawned on me that this would make a cracking plot for a novel."

The story in the widely-circulated email stated that the car park at Bristol Zoo had been manned by a single attendant for 23 years, who had taken advantage of a mix-up between the zoo and the city council over who was responsible for the operation to collect drivers' money for himself before retiring on the proceeds.

Bristol Zoo insisted there had never been any confusion over parking attendants and made it clear it had several attendants and more than one car park.

But Bill didn't let the facts get in the way of a good story.

"I started to wonder what the guy would do with the money," he says. "You wouldn't be able to put it in the bank, because the authorities would then be able to trace the money. So pretty much all you could do, would be to build up a bigger and bigger stack of coins in your home, and spend in a big way with small change as much as you could.

"I loved the idea so much that on the first day I sat down to start writing, I found myself ploughing straight through the first six chapters.

"Within just a few weeks, the book was finished and being mailed to the publishers."

The result, Bill's forthcoming book, The Attendant, is already proving to be a modest hit in bookstores across the States, and is now available in British bookshops.

It is the 66-year-old former school teacher's third novel.

"I spent many years as the principal of a high school, and when I retired I started writing down some of my classroom experiences.

"I discovered I enjoyed the writing process, so I started to write about everything that happened to me – often just things I overheard in my local bar.

"That exercise resulted in my first book, Bar Exam, and then I followed it up last year with Depositions, a murder mystery that came to me in a dream.

"It may seem strange to simply wake up one morning with a story in your mind, but you have to take your inspiration from wherever it comes. That's why I had no reservations about basing my next book on a spam email.

"I've set my version of the zoo attendant story at an unnamed zoo over here in the US. My rogue attendant pockets dollars and dimes for decades, and enjoys a wealthy retirement on the secret fund.

"The zoo director fails to get the police to take the case seriously, and in the end becomes a laughing stock after the story makes it on to the front page of USA Today, and the attendant himself appears on the primetime David Letterman show to reveal all."

● The Attendant, published by Kindle Books, is available now, priced £12.42.