FURIOUS Bolton traders operating in streets near the town centre are fighting back after being blitzed with hundreds of pounds worth of parking fines.

Bosses of firms in the Shiffnall Street and Breightmet Street area of the town are angry that delivery lorries and customers' cars are being slapped with tickets from "over-zealous" attendants.

So they have started a petition to plead for special status as an industrial area.

The traders warn if they continue to have charges slapped on vehicles by the attendants they may have to move out of the area altogether.

The claims come after Bolton Council took over the task of regulating on street car parking from police in September.

Some of the businesses have been trading in this part of Bolton for 25 years, but bosses say they have only experienced problems since the local authority took over.

Delivery lorries being loaded with goods, or customers waiting just a few minutes on double yellow lines, are being targeted.

The firms, including Wicks Plastics, Salop Street Garage, Bolton Safety Glass and Smith's Garage, have signed a petition and some have sent letters to the council and its chief executive, Bernard Knight.

Arvind Mawji, managing director of Wicks Plastics, said his company moved into the area three years ago. He said he would have relocated elsewhere in the town if he had known the problems he would suffer. They have been issued with five tickets since September, with fines totalling £100.

Mr Mawji said: "This is driving business out. Customers who are getting tickets will not come back.

"We have to park our lorries on the street because there is nowhere else for them to go. If they are being loaded with goods we can't park them anywhere else.

"The council should realise this is an industrial estate, not a residential area, and realise we can't operate like this. We have contacted the council but they just said: 'That's your problem'."

Ray Tomkinson has run Salop Street Garage in the area for 25 years and since September he has been issued with six tickets. He said the council should draw up different rules for the area.

"This is an old industrial area. It is not like a new industrial estate with custom-built yards and car parks. We need to use the streets outside -- if I can't I won't be able to run my business from here."

Guy Harkin, Bolton Council deputy leader and chairman of the Policy Development Group for Decriminalising Parking, said there had been no change in the law since September and only the enforcement of regulations had changed.

He added: "Companies have 20 minutes to load and and I think that gives plenty of time. If they can demonstrate to me there needs to be a variation in the law in a certain area we will look at changing it, subject to safety. We need to encourage business, not drive it out."

Cllr Harkin said if the businesses did want changes in parking the Policy Development Group would discuss its merits. David Howell, who works at Smith's Garage, said customers who parked at the front of their premises had been given tickets and it was driving business away.