BOBBIES on the beat are about to get tough with bad parkers with one Lancaster Street a particular target.

Dale Street, which is within walking distance of both St Martin's College and the city centre, is blighted by parking pain on most days of the week.

Some drivers have even taken to leaving their vehicles parked on top of traffic calming bays in the residential street.

And they have prompted a warning from Sgt Paul Mason, of the Northern Division road policing unit, who says: "I would ask people not to park on the build out by the side of the speed humps.

"They are actually part of the pavement and they create an ideal place for pedestrians to cross, in particular wheelchair users and those with pushchairs. They give a narrow road width to cross and give a better view of the road.

"Parking at these locations could amount to the offence of causing an unnecessary obstruction which can be dealt with by means of a £30 fixed penalty notice."

The truth about the Marsh

THE forgotten history of a Lancaster housing estate is to be revealed in a new short film, thanks to support from English Heritage.

Residents of the Marsh estate have made a 15-minute movie which chronicles 100 years of the area around Willow Lane.

It tells the story of local landmarks such as the Victoria Hotel, the Co-Op, St George's Church and the Willow Lane nursery through interviews with residents and aerial and historical photography.

The film is being premiered at the Dukes Cinema on Saturday at 3pm, with a second showing at 3.45pm.

English Heritage provided both cash and access to its National Monuments Record - a public archive of seven million photographs and documents stretching back as far as 1840 - to help the film-makers from the 20-strong Marsh estate history group.

Leader and Aysgarth Road resident Sharon Lambert, who narrates the film, says: "Some of our neighbours were really surprised it's not the sort of thing you expect on the Marsh estate. But I hope that when people see the film it will give them more of a sense of pride in the area."

The film took three months to put together and was funded by English Heritage as part of a project using film to help engage people in local history.