MOTORISTS are set to bombard police and council officials with demands to pay back parking fines which could have been taken illegally, it was claimed today.

A bureaucratic loophole has meant many of Blackburn's single yellow lines were invalid because they only had one warning sign alerting motorists to parking restrictions instead of two - as required by law.

Council workers have started putting up extra signs to make the lines legally enforceable, prompting the warning from the man who first raised the issue.

The loophole came to light when Adrian Willis, shopkeeper at Happy Occasions newsagents in Whalley Banks, questioned why nobody was being booked for parking 'illegally' on the single yellow line outside his shop, despite his complaints.

Blackburn with Darwen Council admitted that the yellow line was 'unenforceable' because only one sign alerted motorists to the restrictions and began an immediate review of all its single yellow lines.

The council will only take over responsibility for parking enforcement from the police in October, but its officers could be the ones to bear the brunt of motorists' anger.

However, it believes reimbursement will not be an issue and has claimed traffic wardens knew about the loophole so tickets were never issued in areas where only one sign was displayed. And it has denied the problem was widespread.

Mr Willis said: "People who have received parking tickets in Blackburn must now be allowed to have their money back.

"My daughter was fined three years ago three times for parking outside her door. She should be top of the list."

But Graham Burgess, the council's executive director for regeneration, said no tickets had been issued at yellow lines with only one plate.

He said: "In preparation for the implementation of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement in October 2004, all timeplates and waiting restrictions are being checked."