A NEW initiative to catch and punish motorists parking illegally in Skipton has issued more than 70 fines in just three weeks.

Fed-up of motorists dumping their cars anywhere to avoid paying car park charges, many of the town's retailers, the police and Craven District Council joined forces to take action.

Together they have written and adopted a voluntary code of practice to clampdown on illegal parkers in the fairest way possible.

The idea to draw up a voluntary code stemmed from numerous complaints from angry motorists about "unscrupulous" contractors who had clamped their vehicles in the town centre and then ordered them to pay an £80 release fee.

The emphasis of the new code is on the issue of fines as a way of preventing unauthorised parking, with clamping only used as a last resort.

Already Wilsea Services Ltd, a ticket administration firm run by Jonathan Seal and Darren Wilson, has adopted the code and is being called out regularly by retailers to issue parking tickets on vehicles left in private car parks reserved for customers.

Mr Seal said that eight months ago, before the launch of his company, he was approached by a Skipton businessman and asked to keep an eye on his car park and clamp illegal parkers.

Wanting to make a good job of it, Mr Seal approached trading standards to discover what laws he had to abide by.

He was surprised that there were no guidelines to follow other than to be fair to both the motorist and the landowner.

While writing his own code of conduct, he approached the police for their advice and discovered that Inspector Tad Nowakowski, of Skipton Police, was also pioneering a similar initiative.

Eventually one code was drawn up with the aim of providing a fair balance between the rights of landowners to deter trespassers on private land and the rights of motorists to be protected from unscrupulous practice.

The new code has been approved by the council and the chamber of trade, and North Yorkshire Trading Standards is also considering adopting the code.

In just three weeks the owners of five car parks have asked Mr Seal to put up Wilsea's warning posters and to fine illegal parkers.

"We have chosen to issue fixed penalties as it is much fairer. We don't want to be unfair but it will still act as a deterrent. We want to be able to offer the retailers their car parking spaces. They will be kept clear so the customers can get into the shops," said Mr Seal.

He added that his team did not sit in car parks and wait for offenders but were called out by retailers.

The voluntary code includes:

o Ensuring that warning signs are clearly visible is areas where parking controls are used.

o The parking control contractors should have the written authorisation of the landowner, and the fixed penalty/release/ towing away fee and the name, full address and telephone number of the parking control contractors should be clearly displayed.

o Fixed penalty tickets will be issued to first time offenders, and a car will only be clamped if it is still in situ four hours after the ticket has been issued, if it is blocking an emergency access or for repeat offenders.

If the motorist refuses to pay the fine they can be taken to court where a photo of the car parked illegally will be produced.

o If a vehicle is towed away, it will be kept in a safe place and there will be proper arrangements for its return. Parking control contractors must inform the police when a vehicle is removed.