MOTORISTS are getting it in the neck from all directions.

The rise in the number of speed cameras and parking wardens is sickening off drivers who are being made to feel like criminals for committing minor offences.

A disabled pensioner claims he was the victim of an over-zealous traffic warden on the Doctors Nook car park last week-- he actually received a ticket after the heartless jobsworth couldn't read the number on his disability badge.

He said because of the wind and incessant rain he must have knocked the badge askew on the dashboard without realising his sin and as a result copped a £30 ticket.

I advised him to write to the powers that be at Wigan explaining his case in the hope that they would look upon the error sympathetically. They do sometimes!

Last week another OAP was livid when his 50 years clean driving record was broken by a speed camera and he had to cough up an extortionate £60 for being clocked doing 40mph on Liverpool Road, Hindley.

For goodness sake, as most motorists will agree it's difficult to keep to a 30mph limit going down a hill. I wonder just how much one of these strategically placed modern menaces collects in revenue in a day.

Despite all the protestations and how much people feel like challenging the fines in the end it's easier to accept that you've been a victim of highway robbery and pay up. Sadly getting shirty usually only makes matters worse and ends up costing more.

In Schofield Lane, Atherton, a big road sign, another countryside wrecker, has gone up warning drivers that parking now comes under the jurisdication of Wigan Council. That'll put the fear of God into anyone venturing into the borough. What a waste of time and money.