Leader: Parking tickets take gloss off Shrewsbury Town win

An unpleasant surprise was waiting for Shrewsbury Town fans as they made their way back to their cars in celebratory mood after their team's crucial victory in the promotion dogfight last night.

Somebody had taken a conscious decision to throw around parking tickets like confetti.

It is enough to take the gloss off any evening when you return to your car and find you have got a ticket.

The victims were on double yellow lines on the entrance road to the Meole Brace park and ride car park, which is closed at nights anyway.

On the face of it they were causing no harm and causing no obstruction.

They are paying a heavy price for their indiscretion at a time when motorists are being milked of cash at every turn, through a bewildering array of taxes, charges, and fines.

Yes, they should not have parked there. But it is one of those situations in which a preliminary warning of some sort would have better served the interests of natural justice.

If this ticketing exercise was planned and not in response to a complaint on the night, why was a traffic warden not on the scene as a deterrent?

Or a Don't Park Here sign? Or is the policy now to wait for motorists to offend, and then ticket them, because it is more lucrative than stopping the offence in the first place?

Fans come from far and wide to support Shrewsbury Town and, especially for an evening game, a car is the only practical option.

Traffic management was always going to be an issue at the out-of-town stadium site and clearly there are issues still to be worked on when this sort of thing happens.

The motorists were wrong to park there and deserve a warning.

But what was done last night does not smack of fair play.