Traffic wardens are reportedly being sent miles away from their routine beat due to staff shortages.
Oban Community Council reported that parking in Oban is “appalling” because the traffic wardens have been sent as far away as Campbeltown.
However, it takes at least two hours to make the 87-mile trip – meaning the wardens reportedly get there in time for lunch and one patrol before heading back to Oban.
The community council claimed that residents can tell the traffic wardens are at work in the town if the car parks themselves are busy.
When the wardens are not in town cars are said to be blocking the non-ticketed streets on the way to McCaig’s Tower or along a single yellow line of the main thoroughfare on George Street.
One community councillor said that he understood the traffic wardens were being sent out of town to make up for a lack of staff in other areas.
‘Oban is a cash cow for the rest of Argyll’
A member of the public, George Berry, said: “I understand that traffic wardens can be sent all over Argyll, they can be in Inverary or down in Helensburgh.
“I even heard that they can be sent to Campbeltown. They have time to drive there when they start at 9am. They they get there in time for lunchtime, walk up the street and back down and then come back into Oban in time to clock off.
“It is absolutely not the traffic wardens. Oban is a cash cow for the rest of Argyll when it comes to parking and there is absolutely no effort put in by the council.”
Duncan Martin, secretary of the community council, said: “I have been told the reason the traffic wardens are being sent to Helensburgh is because the councillors make the officers send them down, and they will not accept no for an answer.”
Argyll and Bute Council did not respond to requests for comment.
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