A SHORT stretch of road is officially the worst in Ipswich for parking fines with a staggering 1,100 tickets being handed out in just five months.New figures show that between September 2006 and January 2007, a total of 6,192 parking tickets were dished out for parking on yellow lines or in a restricted zone in Ipswich.

A SHORT stretch of road is officially the worst in Ipswich for parking fines with a staggering 1,100 tickets being handed out in just five months.

New figures show that between September 2006 and January 2007, a total of 6,192 parking tickets were dished out for parking on yellow lines or in a restricted zone in Ipswich.

Amazingly 1,130 of these, close to one in five, were handed out in the St Nicholas Street and St Peter's Street area.

This works out at around seven a day and makes up 62 per cent of the 1,825 tickets handed out in Ipswich town centre during that period.

The situation is being blamed on the fact the St Nicholas Street and St Peter's Street area has no yellow lines due to its status as part of the “outstanding central conservation area”.

A raft of proposals to address the situation are set to be discussed at a meeting of Ipswich Borough Council's executive committee today.

Paul West, responsible for transport at Ipswich Borough Council, said: “The number of tickets handed out in this area is extraordinarily high particularly in the evening where people turn up and in the absence of yellow lines don't quite appreciate it's a controlled zone.

“I'm not happy with the situation.”

One of the proposals involves providing clearer signage in a bid to make people aware that the area has restricted parking.

It is also suggested making the street one-way, which would reduce traffic by close to half as well as provide room for new parking bays.

Cllr West said: “Part of the proposal is to create more parking bays to give people the opportunity to park in the evening and introducing a one-way system is perhaps a way of bringing that about.

“We have thought about yellow lines to raise awareness that the area has parking restrictions but that would deface the area.”

Cllr West said feedback around the proposals had so far been good and added that no changes would be made should there be “overwhelming” opposition.

Do you think motorists are unfairly caught out on St Nicholas Street? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.