Incorrect parking signs replaced as driver challenges Bartholomew Street fine
The change comes too late for some disgruntled motorists in Kings Road, Newbury.
One motorist, Tanya Burdett, who lives in Kings Road, said: “I got several parking tickets and so did some neighbours. No one could work out what the sign meant or when you were supposed to be able to park.”
The council has said that it believed only 10 illegal tickets were issued because not all the signs in the road broke Department of Transport regulations.
However, it has also said that the wrongly-fined motorists cannot be refunded because it does not keep records of who made payments.
Responding to calls for an investigation into parking throughout the district, highways and transport portfolio holder Pamela Bale (Con, Pangbourne), said that, so far as she knew, there were no other signs that needed replacing, but that traffic wardens had been tasked with checking that all signage complied with regulations.
Meanwhile another Newbury motorist, Rob Higgs, is challenging a ticket he received in Bartholomew Street.
He said: “I am currently going to tribunal with the council. Parking signs are not sufficiently clear and although the regulations are consistent along each official parking bay, one has subtle differences which have been recently added.
“I was ticketed at 6.30pm on a Thursday evening while parked for 20 minutes. My view is that, as well as lack of clarity, the timing suggests deliberate targeting to gain funds rather than to support parking control.”
Last week Mrs Bale admitted that the council had known about the signs in Kings Road which did not comply with guidelines, but added: "I don't know how long we knew about it."
A freedom of Information request by the
revealed that 152 parking tickets were issued in Kings Road since 2009, when former traffic warden Andy Needham said he alerted bosses to the unenforceable signs on his beat.
He said: "I was told that motorists could appeal if they had a problem but that we weren't to inform them of this."