A FEW decades ago Voja Miletic was one of the first on his street to have a car - nowadays he can barely park it outside his own house.

As investigations continue into residents-only parking, Mr Miletic hopes it will bring some relief to the increasing problem of parking and traffic around Middletown.

Mr Miletic, who has lived on Dawson Street since 1957, said residents had a constant battle to park their cars near their homes once people who were working in the town had parked up for the day.

He explained that he felt sorry for people coming into the town as he believed the car parks were expensive compared with other towns.

However, he said it made life hard for residents as they knew that if they moved their cars away from their homes, there was no guarantee that they would be able to park nearby on their return.

"I have to park in the back streets. We have to wait until everybody has gone," he said.

The grandfather said he hoped that the implementation of residents-only parking would help him and his neighbours. However, he said he had lost faith in the programme due to its slow progress.

Mr Miletic said he had contacted North Yorkshire County Council's highways department many times about the situation, but nothing seemed to be resolved.

He said: "Sometimes the cars block the pavement. There are people with wheelchairs and pushchairs who have to go on the road."