THE sale of cars from a council-owned car park in Tavistock came under the spotlight during a meeting in the town last week.

Town clerk Carl Hearn told the town council's properties committee that he had been in contact with West Devon and South Hams car parking enforcement team about the issue.

Members heard there had been repeated instances of cars being left in the parking area at the bottom end of Down Road with for sale signs stuck inside them.

Mr Hearn said: 'The team have started calling these people who are leaving the cars there on that basis. Clearly, if the problem does continue, we may need to seek a more formal resolution — the car park is there for people visiting the town, not for the sale of cars.'

Cllr Ted Sherrell said: 'This was brought to my attention a couple of years ago — I went to the borough council and I was told it's only technically illegal if there were two vehicles being sold by the same person.'

Cllr John Sellis said the notices he had seen on these vehicles had looked exactly the same, although the telephone numbers were different.

Mr Hearn said the law was complicated regarding the issue — he was hopeful the approach by the enforcement team would prove successful, but warned members that a designated parking order may have to be considered for the area in future if people persisted in using it in this way.