A county councillor has apologised for misleading the public after The Standard revealed inaccuracies in her statements.

Tracey Chapman, cabinet member for highways and transportation at Essex County Council, wrongly said the number of parking tickets issued by the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) in Kingsway and Station Road, Dovercourt, were not “demonstrably” higher on market days than other days of the week.

But a Freedom of Information request, by Harwich councillor Garry Calver, showed there were 531 tickets handed out on Fridays between April and December last year and just 14 in the same period for the remaining six days of the week.

Ms Chapman has apologised in a letter to Harwich Town Council. She stated: “I have spoken to NEPP which sent me over some information on the issue.

“The quote in the Harwich and Manningtree Standard is misleading and I apologise for this.

“It is true that more parking notices are issued on Fridays, but the parking restrictions are different on Fridays to the rest of the week... so it is very difficult to compare one day to the next.”

Councillors want a cordoned area to be reintroduced.