MORE should have been done to prepare Newport city centre ahead of the council's parking takeover, according to some people who work in the city.

Dave Bryant is a taxi driver who lives and works on Commercial Road, Pill. He said the street's parking bays hadn't been updated in years, and this was causing problems for residents who now found their parking options severely limited.

"There are no facilities to park – the structure of the [parking] signage in Pill needs re-addressing," Mr Bryant said.

"A lot of people live in the area in flats above shops."

He said Newport City Council's new Civil Enforcement Officers, who started issuing parking fines when the council took over on-street parking responsibilities on July 1, had started fining people forced to park in loading bays because there was no on-street parking available near where they lived.

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Mr Bryant called for a more common-sense approach and an updating of the parking allocation in the area.

"Kwik Save has been closed for around 15 years but there are still around eight disabled bays outside the shop, which are never used," he said.

"There are loading bays for businesses which have come and gone years ago."

Mr Bryant said he would like to see more signs in areas like Commercial Road, requiring residents' permits, but only if more parking space was made available to residents.

Former city councillor Omar Ali said it was "completely unreasonable" for people to be fined for parking near their homes when there was such limited space available.

"I've seen people from Commercial Road having to ask for permits in Ebenezer Terrace – that's not even in Pill," Mr Ali said. "It's completely unreasonable. It needs to be reviewed immediately."

And there are concerns over parking in other parts of the city, too.

Waseem Mohammed owns Popadoms restaurant and takeaway in High Street.

He said there were plenty of loading bays outside his restaurant, but little in the way of public parking – causing problems for his delivery drivers, as well as customers who came to pick up their orders.

The loading bays have a 10-minute inactivity time limit, after which a vehicle may receive a ticket, but Mr Waseem said it was impossible to prepare customers' food in that time.

"[The Civil Enforcement Officers] said my customers and drivers can't park there, and I can't cook a curry in 10 minutes," he said, adding that the new rules were having an effect on his trade.

"Customers aren't coming to the restaurant because they're afraid they'll get booked," he explained.

Mr Waseem said nearby car parks were expensive and unsafe, and he feared for his staff members' safety if they had to walk a long distance to their cars after a weekend evening shift.

He said he was planning to speak to other business owners about his concerns, and would then like to meet with a representative of the city council to find a solution.

In response to the concerns raised by Mr Bryant, a spokesperson for Newport City Council said in a statement: "Newport City Council has not introduced new regulations over parking anywhere across the city but is in fact enforcing the regulations of the Highway Code.

"The council confirms that no change has been made to the Traffic Regulation orders for Commercial Road in Pill.

"As Commercial Road is predominantly commercial, parking in the limited waiting bays is allowed Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm for one hour with no return within two hours.

"This provides a reasonable turnover of available parking for the businesses, in addition to the loading bays provided for the receipt of goods to those businesses.

"Full details of Civil Parking Enforcement can be found on the council website, www.newport.gov.uk/cpe."