A group of market traders and their customers were very upset on Thursday, January 28th, when a traffic enforcement officer distributed a parking ticket to one of the traders who was parked in a loading bay next to the Market House. He now feels that he will struggle to continue to do the markets in Ross-on-Wye in the future, because paying for parking tickets on top of the rent is too expensive.

Keith, who has run a fresh fruit and veg stall on market days in Ross for many years, parks his van in the loading bay by his stall. He works alone and he says as he is old he cannot feasibly unload all his stock by himself, set up the stall and then go and park the van elsewhere.

He also keeps surplus stock in the van, and he is constantly unloading extra fruit and vegetables throughout the day, to keep his busy stall full of produce.

He gets up at 2.30am every Thursday morning to get the freshest produce for his stall, and said he sells it for a very reasonable price. He enjoys running the stall as a community service but he does not make a lot of money out of it, and receiving parking tickets so frequently makes it difficult to justify coming to Ross anymore.

Keith told the Gazette that he also does market days at Monmouth and Ledbury, and there seems to be an exception made for traders there and he does not receive parking tickets in those towns.

The Gazette is making some enquiries, to find out if permits or other arrangements could be introduced in Ross. The Town Clerk told the Ross Gazette: “This is a difficult issue we are looking at, unfortunately the Town Council is not the authority responsible for parking enforcement. I understand there are local arrangements in other towns but I’m not sure what parking restrictions are in force there.

“We are very keen to be working with the traders and try to develop the market but at present this is a situation beyond our control.”

Several of Keith’s customers came into the Ross Gazette office to raise their concerns about the parking tickets given to traders on market days

They said that someone in the town had a made a complaint against the traders being parked in loading bays on market days, and they said that was why the enforcement officers were being so strict.