PARKING problems in a Ramsbottom street are "worse than ever", it is claimed, after traffic wardens failed to deliver the clampdown they promised.

On August 22, bosses at NCP, which employs traffic wardens on behalf of Bury Council, vowed they would repaint yellow lines in and around Rothwell Street after they admitted the existing lines were no longer valid.

Three weeks on and the lines have still not been repainted. The council said it is because parked cars have prevented them from doing so.

They now plan to send workmen to the street to wait as long as it takes until cars have left in order to repaint the lines and put an end to the saga.

It began more than four years ago when long-suffering residents of the area won a campaign to have yellow lines put down after the problem of vehicles blocking entry to the narrow street became a daily bone of contention.

Mark Nicholas (36), of Rothwell Street, said: "In the first fortnight or so, things were brilliant. The traffic wardens were patrolling the area and issuing tickets, but we didn't see them come for about two years so the problem came back.

"We got so annoyed, we actually stopped a passing traffic warden in the street and led him to cars. He didn't even know that the road had double yellows there."

So many vehicles have parked on the lines in the last few years that the lines faded, raising doubts with police and Bury Council as to whether they are valid or not.

It led to rows among residents and visitors - some believing parking was banned, some believing it was permitted.

To remove all doubt, NCP said it would redraw the lines and step up patrols on August 22. But, though it has since given out some tickets, it failed to keep its promise in repainting the lines and, according to Mark's fiancee Lisa Taylor (28), the area has become a parking free-for-all.

"The council basically told people that they could park there legally because some of the lines were not valid. Since then, the problem has got so bad that our recycling bin collection vehicles can't come into the street. The problem needs to be sorted out soon," she said.

Bury Council's parking manager, John Foudy, said: "We said we would increase patrols and we have. Tickets have been issued, and will continue to be where we find illegal parking.

"We visited the area and found that some of the re-painting could not take place because cars were already parked in our way.

"On one occasion we asked someone at Isherwood's Fine Furniture to move their van so we could paint the lines, but they refused.

"We are arranging for the areas that still need re-painting to be coned-off so the work can be completed shortly."

A spokesman for Isherwoods Fine Furniture, which is based on Bolton Road, said: "The lines that they want to repaint at the back of the shop would have no effect on the access to the street. However, they would have an adverse effect on the loading and unloading of our business."