Hay-on-Wye's former county councillor, James Gibson-Watt, has launched a fierce attack on Powys County Council for its handling of parking enforcement in the county, since it took over the role from the Dyfed Powys Police in April this year.

The former vice-Chairman of the Council's ruling Board and Welsh Liberal Democrat Group Leader said:

"It is increasingly obvious that parking enforcement has become a grubby, money-grabbing exercise. Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) are still slapping parking tickets on local residents and business owners in a completely unreasonable way. This Friday in Hay I observed a CEO book the van of man while he was up a ladder installing a burglar alarm in a shop premises opposite my own shop! I too was booked after unloading a lot of goods from my own vehicle. We both had signs on our dashboards indicating what we were doing and where we were. The streets were incredibly quiet and neither of us was causing an obstruction. We both would have shifted our vehicles if asked to do so, but at no point did the CEO warn either of us to move them. My appeals to the CEO to be reasonable were rejected in a dismissive and rude manner."

" Many other people received parking penalties around the town that day, despite the fact that there were at all times many on-street spaces available and traffic levels were very low, as one would expect at this time of year. This has nothing to do with ensuring a 'turn-over' of on-street parking spaces or free movement of traffic and everything to do with revenue-raising for the Council. It is striking fear in to the hearts of local residents and visitors alike and doing immense economic damage to local communities like Hay. I understand exactly the same thing is happening in Powys's other market towns. People are just too scared to stop outside shops in the centre of town to pick up their shopping as they have been used to doing. Tourists are being similarly persecuted. The presence of the CEOs clears the streets and people just do not come back!"

In a further twist to Powys County Council's approach, Mr. Gibson-Watt revealed that CEOs 'lie in wait' on Hay-on-Wye's main Oxford Road and Market Square Car Parks to catch drivers who are late returning to their vehicles first thing in the morning.

" CEOs can be seen in their vehicles in the early morning on the car parks waiting for the start of the pay-and-display period and local residents and visitors have returned to their cars a few minutes late to find a ticket on the windscreen. This approach is just spiteful. It also upsets tourists and drives them away, never to return."

Calling for a complete change in direction, Mr. Gibson-Watt called on Powys County Council to "end its vendetta against the residents and businesses of Powys before its CEOs turn the county in to an economic desert."

End

Contact: James Gibson-Watt on 07971048737