Crackdown on fee dodgers

Residents living near Stafford's railway station will finally get a parking permit scheme after a 25-year battle against fee-dodging drivers who leave cars in their street.

Castletown Residents Association members are fed up with people avoiding the station or town centre car parks to take advantage of the free parking outside their homes.

The parking scheme – the first for the Stafford Borough – will be introduced for the Castletown area by the summer of next year.

Disgruntled residents reformed the association to renew the campaign for a parking permit scheme in the area.

Staffordshire County Council has confirmed the scheme will be introduced but is set to clash with the association which is urging residents to film inconsiderate motorists and post videos on YouTube.

Tom Harris, chairman of the association, said: "Finding a parking space in Castletown has been an issue for a long time.

"Residents originally set up the group around 25 years ago with the intention of campaigning for a parking scheme. Various schemes have been discussed in the past but residents and local authorities have never been able to negotiate their way to an agreement.

"It looks like we may finally have a parking scheme for the people of Castletown which will be the first for the Stafford borough."

He said residents were still putting up with shoppers, students and commuters who take advantage of the free parking in Castletown.

Mr Harris added: "We are going to start publishing photos of inconsiderate parking on the website, as well as forwarding them to the police.

"Later this month, when the railway station car park closes we are going to film the inevitable traffic chaos during rush hours and upload the video to YouTube so everyone can see what we have to put up with."

Jeremy Herbert, spokesman for Staffordshire County Council, said: "Castletown will be the first parking scheme of its kind in the Stafford borough and will be up and running by the summer of next year.

"In the meantime we would urge the residents association not to take matters into their own hands by putting vidoes of motorists onto their website. This will not help matters."

The Castletown Residents Association website can befound on www.castletownstafford.wordpress.com