IN the light of increased traffic warden activity in the Ashton-on-Mersey area, I am making an enquiry regarding the suspending of parking bays in the area.

Presently I work in the village and regularly drive into our offices here, sometimes to find that the road facing us Chapel Lane is blocked by a large delivery wagon delivering to the local ethical supermarket. Thus, I have to reverse out of the road and take another route.

Secondly, there are limited car parking bays in the village here Green Lane and more or less on a daily basis, the local shop owners will place rubber cones/bollards into the parking bays to prevent cars parking there. The object of this is to allow delivery vehicles to be able to drive into those spaces. Today for example, the supermarket on one side of Green Lane placed cones in the marked parking bay therefore restricting three cars from parking. Then immediately facing that was another shop who had placed another four cones in the bays on their side of the road and that restricted a further three cars from parking.

My question is, would I be within my rights as a motorist to move some of the cones so I could park my car to visit a shop in the village, to avoid a parking fine. Or would I be breaking a rule by parking there, since there are no notices or terms or enforcement regarding the cones?

GR