READERS had lots to say about the call for an urgent review of on-street parking restrictions in Whitehaven.

They are causing major problems in town, says a councillor.

The lack of available short-stay town centre parking is affecting residents and businesses which are already struggling, says town and borough councillor Brian O'Kane.

"Parking in Whitehaven is a big problem, it needs a full-scale review.

"Car parks in town are adequate on a long-stay basis, the issue is short stay. This is exacerbated in terms of the number of disabled bays.

"We need a review of disabled provision which is important but well above the required average," he said.

There were many complaints about the lack of provision in Market Place, he said. "Shopkeepers say it has a detrimental effect on business," he said.

A county council spokesman said: "Parking restrictions are contained within Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) - these are reviewed on a periodic basis due to the extensive nature of the process involved. Whitehaven town centre is next due for a TRO review in 2022-23."

June Patrickson said: "They need to stop parking on both sides of Lowther Street, vehicles, especially buses have a struggle to get through most of the time!"

Steve Cowles commented: "Nice to see the councillors stating a view. We had a perfectly good multi-storey car park until they gave it away."

Alan Spedding added: "I've never seen a parking warden working so fast. He issued three tickets on three cars within five minutes during the continental market. I commented that Linford Christie wasn't that quick but I just got a heated stare as he disappeared rapidly away from the scene.

"One of the cars got a ticket within 30 seconds of the owner running over the road to the cash machine, that's how fast the warden pounced. No wonder people despise them."

John Anthony commented: "It's ridiculous that supermarkets and out of centre stores have over plentiful free parking, but on street parking in the town centre is dominated by disabled parking.

"If you want to drop into any of the shops in the market place for a quick pick up of DIY or veg then to be safe from the over zealous traffic enforcement officers the safest place to park is at Aldi."