Extent of bank holiday illegal parking in the Lakes revealed

Cumbria Police revealed in a freedom of information request that 13 drivers received fixed penalty notices for parking illegally between March 29 and April 1 in honeypot areas of the Lake District. 

The most fines were dished out in Bowness, with eight drivers fined in the village. All of the Bowness fines were for obstructing the pavement and opposite double white lines. There were two fines in Buttermere, and three on Newlands Pass. These were for obstructing the road, narrowing the width. 

The cars that were illegally parked included luxury models - two Range Rovers, an Audi A4, a Mercedes C300 and even a Porsche 911 received notices from the police. 

Bowness had the most instances of illegal parking in the Lake District (Image: Google Maps)

The results of the request came back just before the first of the two May bank holidays, when the Lake District is expected to be busy with tourists. 

A police spokesman said: "We would ask people to park with consideration for others and to give particular thought to whether the placement of their vehicle could block the road or access.

“Not doing so can be a serious issue, particularly where it inhibits emergency vehicles from being able to travel along a road or access an area.”

John Saunders, a Windermere and Bowness Town Councillor, said that they were 'aware' of the long-standing issue and that is was one of 'highest priority' problems for their residents. Highways management is done by Westmorland and Furness Council, with the town councils playing an advisory role. 

"We actually did a survey four or five years ago," he said. "In Bowness with all the illegal parking that goes on it makes it very difficult not just for the residents but for tourists coming in because there's nowhere for them to park." 

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Cllr Saunders said that he supported a park and ride scheme where drivers would park outside of the area, but recognised it would be expensive and it would likely have to be outside of the national park. 

Peter Thornton, the lead member for highways in Westmorland and Furness Council, said: "The first thing to understand is the council have a limited ability to influence it. We influence where we have a traffic regulation where you have yellow lines. If there's no condition or yellow line there's only the police that can influence that.

"There's no easy answer, if there was we would have already done it." Cllr Thornton said that the council had a limited number of wardens, and drivers may accept the fine if they have been able to park without consequence before.