A PETITION launched in protest at a leap in car parking charges will be collated tomorrow (Friday) when a date will be set to hand it in to West Devon Borough Council.
Angry traders in Tavistock are objecting to the increases ? some as much as 35% ? in car parks owned by the borough.
It has meant that hourly charges have jumped from 60p to 80p from April 4 ? just before the Easter Bank Holidays.
The petition was started by the Somerfield supermarket in Brook Street and has been taken up by other businesses in Tavistock.
Somerfield deputy manager Colin Durant said the store had collected some 600 signatures.
?We are looking at between 2,000 to 3,000 signatures altogether, so that is enough for people to stand up and take notice of,? he said.
?Hopefully the council will take notice and do something about it. It is affecting the livelihood of a lot of people.?
Town trader John Follett said everyone seemed very keen to sign the petition.
?I?m on my fourth page which is good for me. The majority of people that are coming in are happy to sign, especially if they are local. Everyone is sick to the back teeth over this,? he said.
At Mainly Stationery in Brook Street five pages of petition have been signed. Television and electrical shop Towl, also in Brook Street, has collected two pages of signatures.
At the time the decision was taken to increase parking fees Cllr Dick Eberlie, chairman of the policy committee, said borough council had a ?stark choice? because it faced a budget crisis due to the Government failing to pay money due to West Devon.
He said the choice had either been to increase council tax ?massively? or to find most of the money by cuts in service costs and raise charges, including car parking charges.