Row over parking as shoppers hit by fines

DISPUTED area near the Shaw Pie and Mash Shop

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

DOZENS of motorists have complained after being slapped with fines for parking on what they thought was a public highway.

Owners of News, Food & Booze in Shaw said customers made complaints after receiving a £100 fine in the post.

Some 30 residents who use a section of Jubilee Street for short-stay parking began receiving notices from a firm called UK Car Park Management.

The section of highway from the kerb edge outside Shaw Pie and Mash Shop, and No. 2 Jubilee Street measures approximately 7.7 metres across.

At present there are no defined markings to show where the highway ends and where the Pie and Mash Shop's parking space ­- an area of around 2.5 metres in width ­- begins.

There is an ongoing dispute over tickets issued to vehicles parked on the highway between the shop and parking area.

The Pie and Mash Shop said they employed a parking company to take action when their own customers were unable to park and they began losing business.

Mark Shore, who owns News, Food & Booze, in Beal Lane, said: "We have lost a number of regular customers due to not being able to park. One of our delivery drivers was issued a ticket for being parked on the highway. The parking notice shows our delivery driver parked on the road.

"There is no definition where the road ends and the land starts.

"It is getting rather harsh. They are issuing parking tickets on people who are parked on the highway, or turning around, or using the parking when the Pie and Mash Shop is closed.

"Up until Christmas there was no problem with this but all of a sudden they are issuing tickets.

"We have got a lot of residents coming in complaining to us that they have got a parking notice for using this strip of land just to hop in and out of the shop."

The unofficial parking area in question has been in existence for several years and used by residents and visitors to the shops in Beal Lane and Jubilee Street.

It was December 2016 when the first complaint was made to News, Food & Booze by a customer who received a parking notice.

The owners of the Pie and Mash Shop hold deeds which show the land is theirs and as such, installed customer parking signs at the site to deter other drivers.

Gareth May, director of the Pie and Mash Shop, said: "We own the land and have the deeds. Our customers were unable to park and we were losing business so we employed a parking company."

The issue was raised at the last Shaw and Crompton District Executive meeting, where Councillor Chris Gloster said: "There is no defined kerb edge. Action needs to be taken because the car park has been extended onto the highway. If you are getting tickets from a company while you are on the highway that is an issue for the police."

District co-ordinator Liz Fryman said: "We will contact highways raising the question again regarding the parking problems."