I READ Cllr Caines’ letter (October 13) with great interest, but was not surprised to learn that there had been so many penalty charges (two per day) issued since April for illegal parking in disabled bays.

Four months ago, during an overnight stay in Clacton, my wife parked for a few minutes opposite Marks & Spencer. On her return to the car, she found a parking charge ticket on the windscreen.

In nearly 50 years of driving, she had never knowingly parked in a disabled bay. She wrote to the charge collection agency in Colchester, admitting the offence but pointing out that all the disabled bays in Clacton – apart from the bay in Pier Avenue, opposite Marks & Spencer – were clearly marked on the road surface with the word “disabled”, and that taxi ranks and loading bays were also so identified.

Indeed, she had driven around the town, seeking a parking space that was not reserved for the disabled. There is, of course, a notice on a pole at each end of the parking bay – easy to miss in heavy traffic.

Had we lived in the area, we should probably have invited the authorities to institute court proceedings. Since we live more than 200 miles away, we paid up.

Clacton residents are probably aware that there is a conveniently-located parking bay which should be marked “Disabled” but isn’t. I wonder how many of the other 353 illegal parkers since April were non-residents who used that particular bay?

Mike Withers
Pontefract
West Yorkshire