Yellow lines painted around cars

Cars are continuing to park on the clear parts of the road

Workmen employed to paint yellow lines on an Essex road have painted around parked vehicles.

Peter Ensum, from Plumberow Avenue in Hockley said no warning was given that the work was to be done.

He said contractors turned up on Monday and painted the lines on only the parts of the road clear of vehicles.

An Essex County Council spokesman assured people that no parking enforcement will take place in the area until the work has been completed.

Mr Ensum said the commuters turned up as usual on Tuesday morning and left their vehicles in the unmarked parts of the road between the yellow lines.

'Commuter parking'

He said: "I've been chasing them and they said they would do it in early March, and they suddenly turned up and painted yellow lines outside my house and I looked over the road and there were those stripe lines, so people can still park in the gaps.

"I e-mailed the highways department and they said they get lots of problems with people moving the cones when they cone the road off, but nobody put any cones out."

Norman Hume, cabinet member for highways and transportation at Essex County Council, said: "The part-lining of areas where a traffic notice is being applied ordinarily takes place during the working week for reasons of practicality.

"However, in this case, and in areas used heavily for commuter parking, it is not always feasible to complete the work on one visit.

"I can assure people that no parking enforcement will take place in the area until the work is complete, at which point only, do the yellow lines become legally enforceable."