RESIDENTS have been slapped with parking tickets on Bank Holiday Monday despite parish councillors believing the rules had been changed.

A traffic warden was spotted ticketing parked cars on the Lawford Dale estate by council chairman Dave Ashley.

Usually the estate has a one-hour no parking rule from noon on weekdays to stop commuters using the residential streets when travelling from nearby Manningtree Railway Station.

But councillors thought the rules had been scrapped on public holidays as they would be unfairly punishing local residents not commuters.

Mr Ashley said the council had been contacted by the North Essex Parking Partnership when this had occurred previously and believed the situation had been resolved.

A spokesman for the North Essex Parking Partnership said: “A request to change the restriction at Lawford Dale has been made to the NEPP’s joint committee, however the decision on whether to change it has been deferred as it is not currently considered to be a priority.”