A BLUNDERING traffic warden slapped tickets on cars – in an area drivers had been told they were allowed to park on bank holidays.

Residents on the Dale Estate, in Lawford – angry at being fined last year for parking near their homes – persuaded Tendring Council to waive the restrictions on bank holidays.

The restrictions, ban parking for an hour each weekday morning, so commuters don’t leave their cars there all day.

Residents persuaded the council bank holiday enforcement was heavy-handed and unnecessary – only to fall victim this Easter to an over-eager traffic warden.

Paramedic Paul Lewis, of Gainsborough Drive, said his father-in-law phoned to say cars were being ticketed.

He said: “I was so angry. This is the fourth or fifth ticket we have had. It is about £200 alltogether, just for parking.

“We live here – it is all the same cars parked outside the house every day. We are both shift workers, I am a paramedic and my wife is a nurse and we have to shuffle the cars and the kids.

“We asked for a permit, but the council said no.”

His wife, Rebecca, said she had been given a ticket while she was changing her baby’s nappy, ready to go out with him in the car.

She said: “It’s just a money-making exercise.”

Fellow Gainsborough Drive resident Juliet Enness said her neighbour warned her, just as the traffic warden was taking pictures of her partner’s van.

She added: “My neighbour came out and explained we had got back from London very late the night before.

“The warden said if wasn’t moved in ten minutes it would have a ticket.”

John and Dawn Duchars, of Cottman Avenue, were also fined.

Mrs Duchars said: “We have three cars and we can’t fit them all on the driveway.

“You don’t expect to get a ticket when you are at home on a bank holiday.”

Brian Rolfe, chairman of Lawford Parish Council, said: “I’m livid. The restrictions are supposed to keep commuters off the estate. Commuters don’t commute on Good Friday.”

Nigel Brown, Tendring Council’s communications manager, apologised to drivers who were ticketed and assured them they would not be fined.

He added: “The council previously said it would not give out notices in that area on bank holidays and there has been no change to that situation.

“The tickets have been given out in error and we will make sure they are cancelled.

“We will also look into why this happened and try to ensure that it does not happen again.”