A BUSINESS woman has hit out after receiving two parking tickets in the space of an hour when a council took over parking enforcement.

Pauline Osborne, who runs a solid fuel heating store in Victoria Road, Darlington, is angry after being issued with the parking fines for parking the company van on a broken and faded double yellow line outside the back of her shop.

She removed the ticket to talk to Darlington Borough Council about it and was issued with a second while she was on the phone.

She is also upset that her customers have nowhere to park near the store, as many of the items sold are heavy and bulky.

She said customers and staff had been able to park before the council had started enforcing parking.

"We are having an economic downturn. The council are supposed to be helping businesses. They are not doing anything at all to help," she said.

"If people can't park outside the shop, they may not come at all. They may go to, say, Northallerton. That is bad for the town."

She added the council should think about introducing business parking permits, which would work in a similar way to residents permits.

A council spokeswoman said everyone had a right to appeal tickets.

"If it is obvious that there is a double yellow line on the road then it is legal to issue a penalty notice, whether or not the line is damaged.

"Permit parking schemes can not be set up for areas covered by double yellow lines but as published in the council's CPE guidelines, people can stop on double yellow lines for loading and unloading as long as there are no loading restrictions."

Parking guidelines can be found at darlington.gov.uk/parking.