Devizes landlord Iain Quigley has clocked up £400 of parking fines in four months.

It is not a record Mr Quigley, who runs the Four Seasons in High Street, relishes. He is furious that parking attendants do not cut him and other business people more slack.

He uses the central car park behind the pub and has been booked for overstaying 16 times. “I am not expecting to be able to park free of charge. I just want a fair deal from the council,” he said.

“While I am getting done for parking, taxis are parked all the way back from the rank outside Tesco into the car park, sometimes blocking cars parked there. Nothing happens to them.

“I have spoken to the people at County Hall but I got no change out of them.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “It is important that parking time limits are enforced to make sure spaces are available for visitors to the town and not just business owners and staff.

“We do offer a season ticket which enables people to park in a long-stay car park at a discounted rate.”

Meanwhile a different parking issue is causing problems at the other end of town.

John Chillingworth, who lives in the Naughton Road area, near the headquarters of Sarsen Housing Association, is concerned that parked vehicles are a hazard.

He complained to the council that cars were parked on the bends of Horton Avenue, dangerously narrowing the road. Some were parked opposite the bus stop causing an obstruction for other users.

He said: “Furthermore, the stretch of Naughton Avenue between Hambledon Avenue and Horton Avenue is a bus route. Cars owned by residents of the newly-built Wilkinson Court continually turn the road into a single lane by parking outside their homes, despite the fact that those residents must all have allocated parking spaces on the estate.”

Wiltshire Council’s senior traffic technician, Jamie Mundy, told Mr Chillingworth that the situation would be looked at when the council next reviews restrictions in Devizes.