A PLEA for common sense over parking on the High Street has gone from Crediton Town Council to Devon County Council following comments by councillors at the September meeting of their finance and general purposes committee.

As a number of drivers already know to their cost new traffic orders have been introduced, removing the words "Loading Bay", from four parking spaces between The White Swan and Bet Fred, as well as the white lines in the road there.

Cllr Bill Dixon said that local people, seeing "Loading Bay" was no longer painted on the road, took it that they could park there at any time.

"Then they find they receive a £30 parking ticket and this morning there were two traffic wardens on duty.

"I telephoned Devon County Council and it transpires that the words have gone because the Department for Transport has said that if you have a dual use loading bay, you cannot write 'Loading Bay' on the road surface because it is confusing.

'JUST A

RECOMMENDATION'

"But they cannot do something sensible, like putting 'Loading Bay to 2pm' so that motorists know where they are," he said.

Cllr Dixon added that when he asked the county council why this had to be done, he was told it had been introduced by the DoT in 2008.

"When I asked if it was just a recommendation, I was told 'Yes'," he added.

Cllr Joyce Harris, committee chairman, said the move has confused motorists and "not done the town any good at all.

"We need to send a strong letter to the county council pointing out the confusion this is causing and that we want the marking back again," she said.

The biggest problem is the area from outside Evans Travel up towards Wedges and Olivers Bakery. Cllr Tom Connell said he had seen three motorists booked there within 10 minutes one morning.

Cllr Dixon said: "This is about applying common sense" while Cllr Harris commented that drivers were used to seeing the words in the loading bays, removing them and not doing anything to make it clear the area was still a loading bay was "detrimental" to the town.

Cllr Frank Letch explained that the disabled parking bay outside Boots had been removed because of the adverse camber of the road. A new space had been created outside Evans News.

STATIONARY BUSES

Councillors are to look again at the problem of buses parked outside the old town hall and holding up traffic even though the four parking bays have been removed outside The White Swan and Bet Fred.

Cllr Connell remarked that four years ago there had been discussions about traffic flow there. "Now, although the white lines in the centre of the road have been removed, drivers still stop behind the parked bus.

"The intention was for people to pull around the bus and, if the road was clear on the opposite side, traffic could pass - so why are the white lines in the middle of the road not there?" he asked.

Cllr Harris said the explanation she had received was that "it was too sharp a bend in the road". She explained that it had been agreed to move the central white line and remove the parking bays to allow traffic to pass a parked bus.