MOTORISTS in Bury are being warned they face a 50 per cent increase in parking fines.

Bury Council has now taken over the enforcement of regulations and anyone found parking illegally in the town will be fined £60.

This will be reduced to £30 if they pay within 14 days.

Under the previous system, the fine for overstaying in a pay and display space was £40, reduced to £20 if paid within seven days.

Bury Council has now taken over the enforcement of parking regulations after a two-week period when the old system ran alongside the new one. Wardens stuck warning notices on cars stating that if the vehicle was found illegally parked in the same space again, it would get a fixed-penalty ticket.

Peter Schofield, Bury's manager for transportation and parking services, said: "The council will have more of a presence on the street than the traffic wardens as they had been reduced in numbers recently as the police's priorities tailed off.

"We will be enforcing the regulations more rigorously, but there is a benefit to the public and we are not in this to make money."