Clampdown on parking cheats

And traffic bosses are out to get them.

Their cars will be clamped and they will have to pay a hefty on-the-spot penalty to get the clamp removed.

Other ideas likely to be adopted include extra "yellow-line" patrols on Sundays to target parking hot-spots and a "first offence" warning system for disabled drivers.

The three proposals have been formulated by a special council group set up to look at problems over car parking enforcement since the local authority took over the regime last year.

The council will take a no-nonsense approach to those owners who persistently park illegally but evade fines because their details are not correctly logged at the DVLA.

Contractors NCP will be allowed to clamp vehicles where the car owner owes at least five penalty notices. The driver would then be forced to immediately pay a parking fine, plus the de-clamp fee. Legal action will then be taken to recover the outstanding debt.

The council has received thousands of appeals from drivers given penalty charge notices, many from disabled people. They complained that they had been booked because their blue badge was displayed upside down or otherwise incorrectly, and the majority of those appeals were successful.

A pilot scheme will now be brought in to issue warning leaflets, along with the penalty notice. The notice will explain how the blue badge scheme works, and how they can get their fine notice cancelled. Their details will be logged and they will then be fined only if they commit a subsequent offence.

The third proposal is to put traffic wardens on patrol on alternate Sundays, between 10am and 4pm, for a trial period of three months.

This move comes after complaints from residents about congestion caused by illegal parking.

The types of places they might visit include car boot sales, particularly in the area of Railway Street, Ramsbottom.

The plans were endorsed by councillors at Tuesday's economy, environment and transport scrutiny commission meeting.