Drivers pay penalty for parking on pelican crossing in Barnard Castle town centre

A ZERO tolerance crackdown on lazy motorists caught several offenders within hours of its launch.
Barnard Castle Police has promised to come down hard on drivers parking on the town’s Market Place pelican crossing.
Within half a day on Friday (January 13), no fewer than five drivers were hit with three points on their licences and a £100 fine. PCSO Steven Richardson announced the crackdown as a PACT (Police and Community Together) priority last Wednesday after a string of complaints.
“We will be putting posters in shop windows – then there is no excuse,” he said.
“We will be enforcing it if we catch anyone at it.”
Kendra Hussey, manager of Costa Coffee on Horsemarket, had no truck with ignorant motorists. She said: “When you look out of your window and see cars dumped there when there is parking clearly available it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
The mother-of-two regularly takes photos of drivers who flout the rules and welcomed the police action.
“People come and do it yet us that work here have to park miles away,” she added. “It can be a bugbear when you see people getting away scot-free “I have an 11-year-old who I’ve just started to allow to walk around town on his own – it’s a safety issue when people cannot see past parked cars – that’s why the zigzags are there.”
St Mary’s churchwarden, David Bailey, told the PACT meeting enough was enough.
He said: “A lot of it is inconsiderate. People think they can put their hazards on and they can park anywhere – particularly down the main stretch.”
PC Dave Williamson revealed the excuses of some of those caught breaking the law.
He said: “Three we caught were people going to get coffee – one last night (Thursday) left his vehicle and said he’d gone home for his tea.
“You cannot say there is nowhere to park – there were very few in Morrisons car park and barely anyone in the hole in the wall when I went past – there is no excuse.”
But a Barnard Castle shopkeeper, who did not wish to be named, said she didn’t see it as a big problem.
“I don’t have a problem with police giving out tickets but it has got to be consistent,” she added.
“I can think of other things they could be doing.”
PC Williamson said the “zero tolerance” approach would continue.
“It’s putting pedestrian’s lives at risk,” he added.