AS traffic and parking issues continue to cause outrage in Tavistock, one local businessman is looking to develop a campaign to raise awareness.

A recent flurry of parking fines has led to many local residents and shopkeepers becoming increasingly concerned over the amount of visitors that no longer come to the town.

Local businessman Matt Elsmore is calling for shopkeepers to come together with hopes to change the way parking in the town is handled.

He said: ‘I am a business owner in town and have only just set up about a month ago.

‘During the process the traffic wardens made it very hard for me to do any work.

‘I asked the council for a permit, that I would have had to pay for, but they wouldn’t grant it because I have a car, not a van.

‘I want to raise awareness and have a poster that I am designing in every shop window and I’d also like some local councillors to get involved.’

He added: ‘This is not a vendetta against the traffic wardens losing their jobs, its awareness about the fact that we are losing the town, no one will come into it because they are afraid of getting a ticket.

‘This campaign is about rallying people together. I’ve booked advertisements at the bus stops which I was going to use for my new shop but instead I am going to put in posters about the traffic issues.

‘It would be nice to have a bit of support and encourage people back into the town who have been put off.’

In August, the Times reported about an elderly man who was fined for parking over the line in a parking bay, while buying a ticket.

Eighty two-year-old Donald said: ‘By the time I had returned to the car, less than four minutes later, he had already placed a ticket on my windscreen.

‘I fully appreciate that officers are committed to issuing tickets to raise revenue, but surely they can also give advice and be helpful.

‘I think its very unfair, in less than the time I’d taken to get a ticket he had booked me. I got a £50 fine for those few minutes.’

Concern was also raised by local shopkeepers who had received fines while parked in loading bays outside their businesses.

Judith Murray, owner of Farley Menswear said: ‘I have paid the penalty, this is not about wanting a refund, its the principle.

‘The traffic enforcement officers need to understand that this is a market town, we all need to work together in a nice way.’

In order to discover the other side of the story, Devon County Councillor Debo Sellis recently shadowed a street parking enforcement officer in Tavistock.

She said: ‘I wanted to see the other side of the coin. I do occasionally get irate shop owners or residents who have contacted me because they have had a fine but sometimes they do also put hateful stuff on social media.

‘I found out what they do and what they are subjected to. Some members of the public have a little pop at them and are rather unpleasant.

‘One parking enforcement officer told me that he’d been spat on.

‘The enforcement officer I was with just plodded on and did his job though it is a tough job in difficult circumstances.’

She added: ‘A lot of people think they have targets but they don’t.

‘If someone is parked in a loading bay the enforcement officer has to observe them for ten minutes and use equipment which won’t allow them to issue a ticket in less that ten minutes.

‘They don’t pounce and have got to be visible when walking down the street.

‘A little while ago shop keepers said that councillors have got to do something because public members were parking in loading bays, so we get enforcement officers, who are doing a difficult job, and now they criticise them.

‘We are also going to review the £2 a day parking but the enforcement officer I went with was an on street officer, the borough council deals with car parks.’