DOZENS of car owners - some of them attending the Covid drop-in centre at Wellington Cottage Hospital - found themselves being booked for ‘illegal’ parking in South Street car park on Wednesday morning.

The entrance of the car park contained a notice saying it was closed for two days but was not cordoned off. No work was being carried out at the time.

Derrick Tron, of Wellesley Park, Wellington, described the decision to close the car park as ‘ridiculous’ with the drop-in centre being so close.

He said: “People going to the drop-in centre are over 75 years old. Many of them cannot walk from the other car parks in town.’

Former Wellington rugby player Bruce Willey said he had intended bringing his 102-year-old mother ‘Dot’ to the hospital for her fourth jab but would have to leave it until next week.

WWN sports writer Barry Knott said: ”When I visited the car park on Wednesday morning every vehicle had been booked. I talked to one couple who came from Taunton who said they had not noticed the sign at the entrance.

“They were about to get a car park ticket when I warned them they would almost certainly be booked. They felt there should have been a bigger sign warning motorists.”

The civil enforcement officer (traffic warden) who carried out the bookings said simply: “The sign at the entrance says the car park is closed. Motorists should not be parking there.”

However, this did not go down well with one woman who described the traffic warden’s actions as ‘sadistic.’