THE SPIRIT of Christmas failed to reach one traffic warden, who issued parking tickets along a Bolton road as car owners enjoyed a Boxing Day lie-in.

Parking along a stretch of Ashworth Lane in Sharples is prohibited between 7.30am and 6.30pm Monday to Saturday, apart from Bank Holidays, but in a move being likened to The Grinch, the warden slapped £70 parking notices on a row of cars just after 8am on Saturday.

A residents’ Whatsapp group alerted car owners, some of whom scrambled out their homes to move their vehicles but not before approximately 10 vehicles near Whitegate Drive were ticketed.

The residents say the warden insisted the tickets were issued legitimately as Saturday was not officially a bank holiday, but furious local councillor, Hilary Fairclough, is demanding the fines issued be withdrawn.

“This was incredibly mean-spirited,” she said.

“It’s a shocking and indefensible move.

“What appears to be one of the issues is that the parking attendant said it was not a bank holiday.

“That may be true but it was Boxing Day and unfair.”

Cllr Fairclough, who was contacted by the unhappy residents, says she normally supports parking enforcement in the area, particularly at busy times and near schools when people can struggle to get out of their own drives because of badly parked cars, which also create a danger for children and other pedestrians.

And she says she has never had a complaint before about penalty notices from car owners living on Ashworth Lane.

“But when the vast majority of Bolton is closed, no school, indeed very little traffic on any road at 8am and they are seen as the easy prey,” she said

“It is not really part of the Bolton family we are trying to promote.”

One resident, whose car received a penalty notice, said: "I was in shock. Morally it is wrong."

The Bolton News: Parking ticket issued in Ashworth LaneParking ticket issued in Ashworth Lane

Cllr Fairclough has now written to Bolton Council’s parking enforcement department stating that common sense should prevail, the Council should show more Christmas spirit and the parking tickets must be withdrawn.

“It has been such a dreadful year for people and, to top the lot, they now get issued with a parking ticket,” she said.

“I would be interested in the rational for sending traffic enforcement officers to the area and like to know what other areas were included for this little Christmas surprise.”