PARKING restrictions could be imposed along the full length of Grimsby Road, in Cleethorpes, to prevent cars for sale clogging up the highway.
Council bosses have promised to consider a petition signed by 40 residents and shop owners calling for a two-hour parking limit as a matter of urgency.
Highways officers have been asked to look at the enforcement powers available to control the sale of cars on the highway, after the issue was discussed at a scrutiny meeting last month, as reported.
However, traffic engineers have agreed to come up with some speedy proposals to deal with this specific section of road after Councillor Peter Wheatley, the portfolio holder for regeneration and environment, said it was an urgent case.
Ward councillor Hazel Chase (Lab, Sidney Sussex), who presented the petition on behalf of residents, said that on most days, she sees between eight and 12 cars for sale in parking bays on the roadside.
On one occasion she counted as many as 18.
She told a meeting at Grimsby Town Hall that attempts had been made to identify what is believed to be the "one or two-man band" responsible for the vehicles, but without success. Although the sellers are not doing anything illegal, residents say the practice is depriving businesses of valuable parking spaces for customers.
The petitioners are calling for a two-hour parking limit with no return for two hours, between 8am and 6pm, on both sides of the road.
Councillor Chase said this would allow motorists enough time to visit the nearby shops, dentist or hair salons, while preventing cars parking there for days on end.
Dave Poucher, principal traffic engineer at council partner Balfour Beatty, said officers could bypass the usual process of writing to premises on the street and go straight ahead with preparing a report.
He added that any objections could still be lodged once an order is made.
The council's head of development, Jason Longhurst, said: "I think it is right we put this case on a fast-track. It has now gone beyond individual private sales to a more commercial enterprise."
Petitioner Steve Pygott, 65, secretary of Barcroft Street Neighbourhood Watch, said: "It's getting a little out of hand and it is depriving businesses of parking spaces for customers. There's also a knock-on effect because people who can't get a space on Grimsby Road are using the side streets more, meaning residents there are having difficulty parking outside their properties."
When contacted by the Grimsby Telegraph yesterday, the owner of a green Peugeot 106 parked outside the New Cleethorpes Constitutional Club said a restriction would be "fair enough".
The man, who lives on nearby Daubney Street, said: "I can understand what people are saying, but I've not parked it outside anyone's house and I will only leave it there for a few days if it doesn't get sold."
But another seller, whose purple Vauxhall Zafira was parked outside McDonald's, said a restriction would damage his livelihood as a motor trader.
The man, who lives in Laceby Acres, said: "I have to make a living and I can't afford my own premises.
"I normally have three cars in stock at a time and I normally put them outside my house or sometimes near Morrisons.
"I'm parked outside McDonald's which has got a free car park so I don't think it's causing a problem."
