Fakenham Town Council would like to make both residents and visitors aware of parking 'fines' (charged) in the town by a private parking firm on the two Millers Walk car parks managed by Cockertons.

There are small signs by the ticket machines which state the rules but these are not easy to see.

We have received complaints that tickets sometimes fail to display the full registration despite this being inputted and fines are then levied.

At night there are no obvious notices and no barriers to indicate that the parks are closed after 7pm and tickets are issued on photographic evidence.

It is not clearly evident that a parking fee is required after two hours and that another free period cannot be used later in the day for instance if one pops back to a Millers Walk shop with a problem.

Ticketing is over aggressive and allows no leeway.

The council understands the desire to keep the car parks for shoppers and not to allow all day parking but feels that the owners should have better signage and be less draconian.

It is concerned that visitors are discouraged from the town, several have said that they won't come back, so our traders lose out.

It is not as though either the owners or Cockertons gain directly from the 'fines' as these go to the parking company presumably in lieu of fees, thus there seems to be an incentive to fine people.

As the parks are private property, despite repeated attempts, the town council has not been able to affect this situation.

On a personal note, if I was given a ticket and was ignorant of the rules I would not pay and would offer to go to the civil court to test whether the parking company would put its money where its mouth is.

As it is I always park elsewhere.

George Acheson, Chairman, Fakenham Town Council