DEVON County Council has been slammed as 'greedy' for handing out parking tickets to those attending Exeter's Sunday car boot sale.
The sale is at Exeter Livestock Centre with car parking provided at the adjacent park and ride site but often overspills.
In the five months between April and August this year 152 parking tickets have been handed out to drivers parking in Matford Park Road, raising £5,320, although three years ago Exeter's highways committee ordered that restrictions on a Sunday should be lifted.
And in the two years between April 2012 and April 2014, 452 tickets were dished out at the road on a Sunday.
In 2011 committee members were told by officers that, because of budget cuts, the traffic regulation order (TRO) making the change would have to be tacked on to another to save costs and the county council says now that the resources are still not available.
County councillors Percy Prowse and Olwen Foggin have denounced the county's behaviour as 'outrageous' and 'appalling'.
Cllr Prowse said: "It is outrageous that they have not complied with the instruction from the highways committee.
"They are just doing this to raise revenue and this is a soft target on a Sunday. There is no congestion on this road then.
"The county council has advertised countless traffic orders in those three years and because there are no residents down there the requirement in law to relax Sunday restrictions just requires a notice on a lamp-post and several lines at the end of another TRO.
"They don't have to change the line on the road which is already there but just put up a new plate at the side of the road. The county council is being greedy and should be ashamed of itself."
He added: "This is so frustrating when there was an unanimous decision three years ago that these parking restrictions would be lifted.
"I will be taking this back to the next highways committee in November."
Cllr Foggin said: "I think this is absolutely appalling. This car boot is the best source of recycling and fresh produce that Devon has. If the county council was really serious about recycling, which it obviously is not, they would relax the parking restrictions as previously agreed."
A Devon County Council spokesman said: "Exeter highways committee agreed in 2011 that a traffic regulation order to allow Sunday parking on the southwest side of Matford Park Road be advertised as resources permit. Unfortunately the resources have not been available since then. Until any order is changed, the existing regulations will continue to be enforced."
Dave Lewis, the city council's events facilities and markets' manager, said: "The people that get tickets are people who have parked illegally.
"We provide as much off road parking as we can and we have spoken to Devon County Council about lifting the restrictions on a Sunday, but it is in the hands of the county council.
"The market is as busy as it has ever been."
Allowing parking on Matford Park Road would provide approximately 50 additional spaces.
