Police are clamping down on 'lazy' motorists amid fears their problem parking on a busy Aylsham road during regular boot fairs could soon cause an accident.

Dozens of drivers abandon their cars on the grass verges lining the A140 to attend the Late One boot sale, but officers have said they will now be issuing tickets to vehicles causing an obstruction due to their haphazard parking.

PCSO Brian Levy told Aylsham Town Council about the clampdown at its April meeting after members voiced their concerns about the parking on sale days.

Jim Pannell said the wayward parking was causing particular problems at the Burgh Road junction as it blocked the view for drivers trying to pull onto the A140.

'I really think there's going to be a serious accident caused by that,' he added.

Police had managed to alleviate the problem last year by putting cones along the verges the night before the Saturday sales, but Mr Levy said officers would no longer be doing this as they were not responsible for highways.

He added, however that they would be taking a 'proactive' approach to issuing tickets to any drivers obstructing the Burgh Road junction.

Mr Levy told councillors: 'We have spoken to the organiser and he's aware we're not going to put cones out. He has a responsibility to provide adequate parking, and there is adequate parking for the majority of cars, but the problem is I think it's people generally being lazy.'

Speaking after the meeting he added: 'You'll get quite an excess of people turning up and there's a bit of a traffic backlog of people queuing to go into the car park and I think that frustrates people and they pull onto the grass verge to avoid that, and then walk down or climb over the fence.

'Last year it was getting completely silly. There were families disembarking from vehicles and literally walking onto a very fast highway and cars were having to swerve round them.'

The boot fair organiser, who did not wish to be named, said he provided more than seven acres of parking on sale days, which was well sign posted, and welcomed the police action as he had tried to dissuade drivers from using the verges.

Councillors also gladly received the new stance from police and agreed to look back at the planning permission for the boot fair to get more information on the parking situation.