A ROW has broken out amid claims that the parking spaces at Darwen Market have been made smaller.

Lines on the middle level car park leading to the annexe have recently been repainted.

And since the work, at least two customers have been given fixed penalty notices for parking outside the lines.

They have said the spaces are now too small for their cars and vowed never to return to Darwen.

Council bosses insist the spaces are a standard size.

To resolve the dispute, traders want the spaces measuring officially.

The president of Darwen Chamber of Trade, Denise Gee, said: “It’s another car parking problem in Darwen and the traders are not happy.

“It’s very inconsiderate and not meeting the parking needs of the customers.

“I’ve had two customers tell me that they have been fined for parking over the lines and they say they will not come here shopping again.

“It’s taking money out of our pockets.”

Coun Simon Hugill, Lib Dem member for Marsh House ward, who asked for the lines to be repainted, said: “The centre bays of the middle car park are 3.5metres long and the national standard is 4.5 metres.

“Therefore in the middle spaces, you will find your car parked with its wheels in the lines, but its boot or bonnet hanging over. This means that the person in the next space cannot fit their whole car length into the bay.

“It has been like this for 25 years and nobody has been booked for it in all that time.

“It is wholly inappropriate because the spaces are not a standard size.

“I don’t understand the mentality of these people.

"You try to create good publicity for the shopping outlets in the town and then they do something like this.”

Coun Alan Cottam, executive member for regen-eration and environment, said: “The bays have been repainted as part of the car park routine maintenance programme.

“The bays are kept to a standard size and have not been reduced in any way.

“Penalty charge notices are issued if the vehicle is not correctly parked wholly within a marked bay.

"For instance if the vehicle parks across an adjacent bay and prevents it being used by another driver, or if the vehicle does not park fully in the bay and obstructs the vehicle access lane.”