'Red route' restrictions lifted

The council said the restrictions were being removed due to public demand

A "red route" in the West Midlands which has been in place for 18 months has been scrapped.

Lines on the Stafford Road in Wolverhampton are to be removed after the parking restrictions, stricter than double yellow lines, ended overnight.

Wolverhampton City Council's leader, Tory Neville Patten, said residents had complained about the red route.

Its abolition has followed a change in political leadership. The council is now run by a Tory-Lib Dem alliance.

Double red lines have stricter waiting rules than double yellows.

Mr Patten said it was "not all [a] waste of money" and junction improvements would remain.

"Of course it is [costing money to remove lines], but that's what the people wanted, that's what they indicated to us," he said.

One trader, Rashpal Athwal, from Oxley Motor Spares, of Three Tuns Parade, Stafford Road, said he had lost business and was thinking of claiming compensation from the council.

"I took £14 all day yesterday. You can't live on like that," he said.