A CONFUSING parking system in Cirencester Market Place has caused one woman to criticise the county council, after she was handed a fine for parking on the wrong side of a single yellow line.

Margaret Stothard was visiting the town for the very first time earlier this year with her family.

She parked on a single yellow line near The Fleece hotel at around 10.30am on a Sunday, confident that she was allowed to.

She said that in her experience, most local authorities permit parking all day on Sundays on a single yellow line.

There was also a line of other cars parked in front of her.

So she was shocked to find, 20 minutes later, that a traffic warden was attaching a parking fine to the windscreen of her car.

“I questioned the officer who was about to issue another fine to the next vehicle and reminded her it was Sunday,” said Mrs Stothard.

“She indicated the sign some distance from my car.

“When I walked down the road to read the two different signs, I saw that part of the road, to the right of these signs, indeed allowed parking on Sundays.

“But the section along which I and several other drivers had parked, to the left of the signs, did not.”

Mrs Stothard said she found this hugely unfair and confusing. She has since asked Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) to change the system so there is just one parking restriction for the whole yellow line stretching along the road, rather than just half the line on half the length of the road.

“I am not aware of any other council that complicates the parking restriction that applies to a single yellow line in this way,” she added.

“In my view GCC has created an unfair trap – albeit a small one – in order to penalise.

“Drivers will be lured into the same ‘trap’ every Sunday. The council will continue to generate income in this grossly unfair manner.”

A spokesman for Gloucestershire County Council said they would encourage drivers to double check the signs and rules of parking before leaving their vehicle.

Parking manager Jim Daniels said the council did not want to put parking restrictions in place when there was no need to.

“This is why it’s fairly common for town centres to have different restrictions throughout the high street, even on the same stretch of road,” he said.

“All the signage for on-street parking in Cirencester is correct and clearly visible, including at the location where Ms Stothard had left her car.

“We’d encourage people to double check the signs and regulations before leaving their vehicle to avoid being issued with a penalty.”

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