More enforcement officers needed to stop illegal parking '“ says resident

Former council worker Barry Ruffell is ‘appalled’ and believes more officers on the streets is the only solution.

“You can wag your finger but it won’t deter the selfish,” said the 69-year-old, of Greenacres, Shoreham.

He said he regularly spots drivers parking temporarily on yellow lines, causing ‘congestion, nuisance and risk – just because it suits them to stop there while they nip to the shop’.

He also notices drivers without a blue badge using disabled parking bays, which he calls ‘exceptionally petty’.

According to Mr Ruffell, who plays in the folk trio The Rude Mechanicals at the Red Lion on Wednesdays, Adur’s parking officers are ‘spread extremely thin’.

He wants to see the money collected through parking fines, which goes to the county council, to be used to fund more parking enforcement officers.

The Shoreham Society is backing Mr Ruffell’s call for the council to ‘wage war’ on ‘illegal, obstructive and inconsiderate parking in town’.

A spokesman said: “A change of social attitude is needed, and the best way to bring that about will be for people to know there’s a very high chance of finding their illegally parked car ticketed.”

An Adur District Council spokesperson said the council’s parking team has met with Mr Ruffell and visited areas of concern.

“The council regularly monitors levels of drivers compliance within the parking restrictions and targets enforcement resources accordingly,” the spokesperson said.

“As part of this work the council is currently repainting many of the yellow lines in Adur to ensure they are highly visible to drivers and help improve compliance across the whole district further.​‘​

A spokesperson for West Sussex County Council said the income from penalty charge notices issued in Adur went towards covering the costs of enforcement in the district, including any shortfall in enforcement.

Along with income from on-street pay and display tickets and permits, this income is put towards civil parking enforcement set up costs, administration, maintenance and development costs, said the spokesperson.

“Civil Parking Enforcement in West Sussex is required to be self-funding and not be a burden on the taxpayer.

“Any surplus generated is ring-fenced for expenditure on highways and environmental improvements, including financial support for public transport subsidies,” the spokesperson said.

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