A COUNCILLOR has launched a campaign against drivers who park illegally in his town.

Cllr Graham Francis and his colleagues on Upton Town Council have been putting leaflets under the wipers of illegally parked cars.

He is now calling for more traffic wardens to patrol the town.

He said: “I’ve been doing it since Christmas. It’s a bit of a vigilante thing to do.

“But you say to people ‘think - if you park here and a bus comes you will stop cars in the middle of the road’.

“When we are in town the task group have leaflets which they slip down the windscreen wipers of offending vehicles.

“The day before yesterday I was over there and two parked in the bus stop and one in the unloading bays.

“I got papers out but they drove off. But I have caught some others.

“We only see our traffic wardens come once or twice a week. We want to see them coming around more often to keep the traffic moving.”

The councillor started targeting illegally parked cars after joining the council’s Traffic Management Task and Finish Group.

The group shared their report about traffic in the town at a council meeting on Tuesday, June 20.

They highlighted the bus stop and unloading bay in the high street as a hotspot for illegal parking.

“They are stopping to use the ATM or Lloyds bank,” Cllr Francis said.

They also noted that drivers park on the double yellow lines outside the post office in the high street.

“It’s right on the corner and we have heavy goods vehicles, buses and tractors come around that corner and often they can’t get by,” he said.

“That holds up traffic which goes back to the bridge.”

Malvern Hills District Council currently has a vacancy within its parking enforcement team, which it is trying to fill.

The council said it will review parking warden rotas when they are back to full capacity.

A spokesman said Upton has been designated a ‘priority area’.