NEWS that fixed penalty tickets in Ipswich town centre were rarer than sightings of Elvis has left the town's police feeling all shook up.So now, worried that some councillors had suspicious minds about their commitment to the new road scheme, they're in the middle of a clampdown on drivers using roads illegally.

NEWS that fixed penalty tickets in Ipswich town centre were rarer than sightings of Elvis has left the town's police feeling all shook up.

So now, worried that some councillors had suspicious minds about their commitment to the new road scheme, they're in the middle of a clampdown on drivers using roads illegally.

During the first 10 months of 2003, just 72 tickets were issued to vehicles using the Museum Street/Dogs Head Street and Upper Brook Street area illegally.

A borough council survey showed that with more than 200,000 vehicles using the roads illegally, the chances of getting a ticket were less than one in 3,000 – William Hill give the odds of Elvis making a comeback at 1,000/1.

But new figures released by the police show that over the last four months 171 tickets have been issued in the area.

And after our story on Monday, senior officers felt it was now or never and sent community safety officers out to carry out a new blitz in the Old Cattle Market and Dogs Head Street.

This left motorists crying don't be cruel – and attracted at least one moody blue message on the Star's answering machine from a driver who didn't want to leave his name.

Ipswich council officials are hoping that the crackdown has the desired effect: "We're not the devil in disguise – we only want the new traffic system to work," said a spokesman.

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