THURROCK Council says it has acted to stop parking on Sundays in Grays High Street.

For the past couple of weeks Thurrock Nub News has reported on the volume of cars driving onto the pedestrian area of the town centre thoroughfare, with some parking recklessly and dangerously - while damage has been reported to shop frontages which have been hit by vehicles.

See live video: https://fb.watch/FxCdf-r9x8/ and the previous week's report via this link. Earlier we told how a child's life had been put in danger by poor driving in the pedestrian area.

It has been widely believed that the area, south of Clarence Road and including George Street, is designated for pedestrians only - including on Sundays. Loading from vehicles is permitted within restricted hours, as is emergency vehicle access - through a large barrier which is normally padlocked.

However, of late, there appears to have been widespread distribution of keys for the gate and for a number of weeks many cars have parked there.

The area is administered by Thurrock - where there appears to have been considerable confusion about what is permitted and what is not.

Grays ward councillors Val Morris-Cook and John Kent have raised concerns with highways officers but as recently as Monday (23 February) they were told there are no restrictions!

A message to them said:

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"The area South of Clarence Road is not a pedestrian zone on Sundays. There are no restrictions in place on Sundays.

"The restrictions are only enforceable Monday–Thursday, 10:00–17:00, and Friday–Saturday, 08:30–17:00. As a result, the gate on the KFC side is required to remain open from 17:00 on Saturdays until Monday morning to allow vehicle access."

Both councillors said they believed that information was incorrect - but raised the possibility that the council might have forgotten to renew previous traffic regulation orders by error.

And, within 24 hours, the council made a complete U-turn, writing to businesses on the High Street saying that from this weekend a new padlock would be on the gate and parking is no longer permitted.

The letter came from Peter Wright, head of highways and transport delivery. It can be read in full below:-