17.11.2009

Police ticket access platform putting up Christmas lights

Volunteers in Wigton, Cumbria who used an access platform to put up the town’s Christmas lights last Saturday were furious when police gave them a parking ticket.

Members of the town council and other helpers had braved the weather to decorate the town centre. They parked the access platform on zig-zag lines in King Street in order to reach the necessary heights, assuming the traffic breach would be overlooked given the circumstances. But the town’s police took a different view.

Andy Huntington was operating the platfform and received the ticket including a £65 fine and the prospect of three points on his licence.

Huntington,45, has been putting up Wigton’s lights for the last 25 years and he intends to appeal against the ticket.

“We’re all very angry about this. We gave up our time to put the lights up. I’ve been doing this for years and we’ve never had a wrong word with the police before.”

Wigton police maintain they took the right action. The town council has raised issues about parking on zig-zag lines in the town centre and made it a policing priority.

Sergeant Neil Cooper, at Wigton police station, said the force is responding to the concerns and at the same time making sure all drivers are treated equally.

Police had received a complaint about the access platform and when an officer was sent out to investigate she agreed that it was in a dangerous position. Sergeant Cooper said: “We must provide safety for road users, particularly pedestrians using pedestrian crossings.

“The police are happy to work with the town council, however, no representation was made by the town council about putting up the lights. If it had been, full safety precautions could have been put in place and we would have recommended not doing it at peak shopping time.”

Town councillor Paul Radcliffe was one of the group of volunteers left seething as well as soaked on Saturday morning.
“Police should have used a little bit of common sense, we weren’t doing this to flout the law, we were doing it to help the community. We all work, so we couldn’t put the lights up at any other time.”