A POLICE car has been booked by a parking warden after it was left on a taxi rank by an officer investigating a crime.

The incident occurred just weeks after the new team began patrolling Lancashire's streets.

Drivers have already accused the wardens of being too strict after they issued a £60 parking fine to a milk float on deliveries.

Now Lancashire Constabulary is seeking to negotiate with county council and local authority officials who run the 'ParkWise' scheme to ensure its vehicles are exempt while on operational duties.

The police car was left on a taxi rank near Burnley's Charter Walk shopping centre while officers went to the town's CCTV control room to check footage as they hunted a car thief.

When they returned outside they found a fixed penalty notice for £30 on the windscreen.

On a separate occasion, another police car was also in the process of being given a ticket for being parked in the same place - but the officer caught the attendant in the act and prevented it being issued.

Police were today trying to get Burnley Council to void the ticket.

A council spokesman indicated the fine would be scrapped - but said the wardens would book police vehicles parked illegally as they did not know when they were actually on duty.

Insp Richard Robertshaw, of Burnley police, said: "The parking situation in general has improved since the new scheme came into operation and we try to ensure that police officers park their vehicles legally when on duty.

"It is not that we think we can park where we like but I don't think any member of the public would want a delay in the police attending an incident because the officers were driving around looking for a parking space.

"We are now trying to get a protocol in place.

"We are in liaison with the local authority to establish working practices to prevent police vehicles which are engaged in operational duties getting tickets."

A Burnley Council spokesman added: "There is an exemption for emergency vehicles which are parked in a restricted area in the course of their work.

"However the parking attendants, if they see a police vehicle parked illegally, can't know whether it is 'on duty' or not.

"The police have been informed that if one of their officers receives a parking ticket when he or she is on duty we expect a senior officer to write a letter to ParkWise confirming that the officer was on duty and, in that case, any ticket would be quashed."

The ParkWise scheme is run in the 12 districts of Lancashire County Council, including Burnley, Rossendale, Pendle, Hyndburn and Chorley.

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council runs its own scheme.