Anger at 'no notice' change to parking rules in Kirkham street

The owners of a Fylde motor business were left fuming after five vehicles parked legally ahead of the recent Bank Holiday weekend had been ticketed by the time they returned to open up again three days later.
One of the APL Saab cars ticketed in Marquis Street, KirkhamOne of the APL Saab cars ticketed in Marquis Street, Kirkham
One of the APL Saab cars ticketed in Marquis Street, Kirkham

Ken Tomes and Nigel Flemen, directors of APL Saab in Kirkham claim they were given no notice of new parking restrictions on Marquis Street, where they parked the the cars as usual before closing the businesses for an extended break.

“All of the vehicles were legally parked on the Friday but on Saturday afternoon, parking restriction signs were erected stating parking would be restricted from Tuesday, September 1,” they said.

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“The signs were erected over a bank holiday period with no advance notice and issuing of tickets started first thing.

“In hard times for businesses we thought councils would be trying to help, not hinder the nation’s recovery.”

Peter Bell, regulation and enforcement manager for Lancashire County Council said: “We consulted on new parking restrictions for this area, which were then agreed by the council’s Cabinet, following a number of complaints about nuisance parking.

“After placing notices and cones to ask people not to park on particular dates when this work was planned, our local highways team has made a number of visits to this area to try to mark the new restrictions, however they have been unable to complete this work due to parked vehicles.

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“To provide an incentive to discourage parking and allow the lines to be painted we prominently advertised a temporary traffic regulation order at the site to prohibit parking and waiting beginning on Saturday, August 29.

“We understand some people may have been away and not had time to respond by moving their vehicle, so to assist with any appeals we took photos of any vehicles parked when the signs were put up, before carrying out enforcement on Tuesday 1 September. If anyone would like to appeal a penalty we would ask them to contact us.”

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