Warning over ticket fiasco

Fed-up Kidderminster traders could have to wait until next year to end parking misery which has led to delivery drivers and staff getting parking tickets.

Shopkeepers in Lower Mill Street say cars are not allowed to stop at the rear of their premises in Blackhorse Lane as restrictions have not been lifted.

Councillors agreed in 2005 that the no waiting signs should be taken down but traders say they are still being ticketed three years later.

However highways bosses have admitted the legal process involved is lengthy and it could take as long as spring 2009 to amend the restrictions.

Owner of Woolwise Tina Mantle said that since the council took over parking enforcement last October they had been given numerous tickets while trying to make deliveries.

She said the lack of parking around the area meant many people were avoiding coming into town.

She said: "It has been a problem for many years. We are getting tickets and so are delivery drivers. My husband has a disabled badge but that doesn't seem to stop the wardens."

Councillor Fran Oborski recently told a meeting of Wyre Forest District Council that she had been told several months ago that Worcestershire County Council would be amending the prohibition of parking order on Blackhorse Lane to ensure that deliveries could be made to the rear of premises in Lower Mill Street. She said traders had lost parking appeals despite being told about the problem.

Worcestershire County Council Spokesman Paul Whittaker said: "We understand the frustration that retailers in the Blackhorse Lane area are feeling at the moment."

He said they would start the legal process to resolve the situation which would allow vehicles to load in the area, but said the earliest possible change would not be felt until spring 2009."