MOTORISTS in a market town which is set to host the finish of a stage of the Tour de Yorkshire this weekend were left feeling frustrated and confused after being issued with parking tickets two days ahead of the race.

Warning signs about road closures and parking restrictions had been put in place in Bedale High Street ahead of the Tour de Yorkshire on Friday – but drivers were caught out on Wednesday when makeshift signs were erected.

Sarah Lancaster said she was ticketed twice on her car and a removal van which were parked outside her High Street flat on Wednesday morning.

She said: "I was moving house on Wednesday – we knew about the parking restrictions and road closures on Friday so we purposely organised our move beforehand.

"We parked in the disc zone the evening before with the discs set so we would be covered in the morning – but when we came down we found we had tickets, as did lots of other cars, including the postman.

"We then saw there had been new signs put up about road closures for highway maintenance – but it was just a sticker over the official signs. It's ridiculous that they can just enforce restrictions like that with no warning.

"I was worried because we were moving house and needed access, but luckily we were soon told by local businesses that the tickets would not be enforced."

Fortunately, North Yorkshire County Council were quick to admit it was a mistake and no one was fined for parking.

About 15 parking tickets were issued under the new signage, which were rescinded as proper legal notice had not been given.

Clerk of Bedale Town Council Nick Reed said the council was made aware of the county council's blunder after dozens of concerned residents got in touch.

He said: "We had not been made aware of any planned highway maintenance work so it was a surprise to us, but to be fair to NYCC, the problem was sorted out very quickly.

"The council realised they had made a mistake and word got around quite quickly that people would not be charged for the tickets."

James Gilroy, transport planning officer at NYCC, said: “We won’t be issuing any fines for these parking tickets. They were issued in error because some parking signage was incorrectly installed in preparation for the Tour de Yorkshire. We have put that right now and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

For tour road closures visit www.northyorks.gov.uk/tour-de-yorkshire.