Delivery drivers feel they are being targeted by "overzealous" parking wardens who are "trying to catch us out". Driver Lee Hammond, who works for supermarket Iceland said parking fines had 'started to come out of nowhere' after years of 'coexistence'.
Mr Hammond said he and other delivery drivers had no other alternatives when it came to parking vans outside the store in Jermyn Street, Sleaford, Lincolnshire. He said drivers are starting to feel 'targeted' as parking enforcement appears to have becomes stricter.
He told Lincolnshire Live that in the last few months, drivers had been handed 'six or seven fines'. And he said it was disrupting his work.
Mr Hammond said: "We've had vans outside the shop for perhaps 30 years on the loading bay. Most of the time we can fit the vans onto the correct side of the yellow line, but sometimes there'll be too many boxes there and we can't get the van over far enough, so maybe a wheel is sticking out.
"Obviously when we're loading and unloading that's fine, and I suppose that if a wheel is sticking out then by rights, we could be done. But it feels like it's a bit overboard.
"They will come and check if we're loading or unloading but we've been given tickets when we've been loading. They'll get appealed, but still.
"I've seen them give tickets to cars parked on private land - it feels like a challenge for them to try and give a ticket out. It's like a game really - as though they're trying to catch us out."
Mr Hammond said that it was the company that handled the tickets, not the individual drivers. "It's not a financial issue, it can just be disruptive," he said.
Though the cost is absorbed by head office, Mr Hammond also expressed concern that such a style of enforcement could be detrimental to small businesses in the area - who may not be able to pay. "Parking enforcement should be sensible and appropriate," he continued.
"This is a little market town in Lincolnshire - it's not central London, where things have to be gung-ho. I can understand taking that approach there but I don't think we need that sort of style in Sleaford."
Mr Hammond added that some drivers felt the wardens were targeting the 'wrong' users of Jermyn Street. "If they did come back in the late afternoon and early evening, you'd manage to get a lot of people who park there to go to the shops or fish and chip shop.
"They'll park all over the double-yellow lines and in our loading bay - if they sorted that out, it'd be great." Another concern for the driver was that there was no alternative place to park.
"We don't have much room to park and we can't just go park in the private Jermyn Street car park," he said. "We don't try to block up the road but when there are cages in the way, it really can be tight."
A spokesperson for Lincolnshire County Council's highways division defended the role of the parking enforcement officers and said vehicles will always be observed prior to a ticket being issued.
He told Lincolnshire Live: "In essence, anyone can park on a single or double yellow line whilst actively in the process of loading or unloading, providing the vehicle is not causing an obstruction and they are actively seen to be carrying the process out. We always observe vehicles for, at the very least, five minutes before taking any type of enforcement action.
"This is council policy and is deemed to be more than sufficient for some to load or unload an item to the door of the premises they are visiting." He added that drivers are permitted to remain parked for the duration of the process if it takes longer than those five minutes.
"We would advise anybody who believes they hold sufficient grounds justifying cancellation of the penalty charge notice (PCN) to challenge the issue as per the info on the reverse of the PCN itself," he said.
