FAILURE to enforce parking restrictions in Okehampton's main street has driven an angry shopper to take her business elsewhere.
Sandra Walker said despite a 30-minute limit, cars were parking all day on the single yellow lines in Fore Street.
She said: 'The police say they cannot enforce the lines because they are too faint and it is up to Devon County Council to paint them.
'In the meantime, people are abusing the system and parking all day. The same cars are there all morning and afternoon.'
She claimed some of the Okehampton traders were the culprits: 'They cannot complain when they lose trade because they are taking up the shoppers' parking spaces,' she said.
Mrs Walker uses the town centre 30-minute parking facility on a regular basis when she wants to 'nip out' and get her shopping.
She said it had taken her so long to find a parking space in the town centre that she had decided to shop elsewhere in the future.
Sergeant Gary Neeves said: 'If yellow lines are not clear and are confusing to the motorist it is not fair to enforce the restrictions — it does not mean we cannot do it but we work primarily on what is fair and what is not.
'In a situation like this we would bring it to the attention of the highways authority.'
Devon County Council traffic officer Nick Pogodin Council said the yellow lines had not yet been remarked because discussions were currently taking place to site two taxis in that vicinity during the evenings.
'It may mean some markings in that area need to be changed but it would be a waste of time remarking the old ones if that was the case,' he said.
'Siting the taxis here in the evening should not make any difference to parking arrangements in the day.'