HEALTH workers who anger residents by parking in streets around Bishop Auckland's new general hospital will have their car numbers logged by hospital officials.

Protestors living in homes around the £67m development are furious that hospital workers and contractors are filling the streets with their vehicles while they wait for official car parks for hospital workers to be built.

Now, those staff who have parking permits but shun the official sites to park closer to where they work, will be asked to move their vehicles.

More parking permits will be issued by hospital management over the next two weeks in an effort to ease the problem.

A resident of Raby Gardens said yesterday that neighbours were fed up with the congestion.

She said: "We have put up with contractors parking on the streets while the hospital was being built, but it is far worse now it is open.

"We can't get near our homes and there is so little space that large vehicles like the bin wagons cannot get near us.

"We are frustrated because nobody is listening to us."

People in Escomb Road have already called for residents' parking permits and demanded a meeting with the highways authority, Durham County Council.

A hospital spokeswoman said yesterday that the problem should ease after the next fortnight, and be solved completely in the autumn, when all the new car parks would be ready for occupation.

She said: "We are being very sympathetic to the residents. As an interim measure we have allocated spaces at the old maternity block for 'staff only' parking, while visitors and patients can use Escomb Road.

"There is a waiting list of staff who have not been given permits, but we know that some who have are parking on the public road.

"We will be taking note of all their car numbers and we will be speaking to them. It is not very helpful."

Durham County Council said a survey of all Bishop Auckland's town centre car parks was under way, in preparation for a new parking strategy to be drawn up.