Post vans relocated from a flooded-out sorting office have been parking in public spaces in an east Suffolk market town in breach of time restrictions, a resident fears.
Richard Thompson said vehicles belonging to Royal Mail had been parking outside the sorting office in Saxmundham High Street, where there is a time limit of 30 minutes in operation between 8am and 6pm.
He believed the vans had previously been based at the sorting office in Riverside, Framlingham, which was forced to move to Saxmundham after the premises was inundated with water when Storm Babet struck the county on October 20.
READ MORE: Framlingham sorting office decision 'beggars belief'
But an insufficient number of parking spaces on the sorting office site meant the new arrivals were having to park elsewhere, including the public bays.
The 11 spaces outside the Saxmundham office, which used to be a BT telephone exchange, are intended for use by the public and Mr Thompson said some motorists had received penalty fines for overstaying the time limit at the site.
However, he feared the same rule was not being applied to the Royal Mail vans and questioned whether the regulations had been suspended to allow a commercial operator to park for free, which he considered unfair.
He said: "Following the relocation of the Framlingham sorting office, the spaces were just filling up with Post Office vans.
"All those vans were parking there and there was no enforcement going on. I could not believe it."
A Royal Mail spokesman said the vans parked outside the front of the building to load up before going on deliveries, adding the company was looking to source permits from East Suffolk Council for the vehicles to park in the town's Market Place car park.
READ MORE: Saxmundham news
He said: "We relocated eight additional vehicles to Saxmundham following the emergency closure at the Scale Payment Delivery Office.
"There was sufficient parking available for the existing vehicles at Saxmundham, but for the additional vehicles we’ve needed to make use of the existing public spaces as a temporary solution.
"This is done first thing in the morning while loading vehicles up for delivery."
An East Suffolk Council spokesperson said: “Royal Mail vehicles have been using these particular bays on a temporary basis, following the extreme flooding in Framlingham, which caused the closure of Framlingham Sorting Office.
"We are currently in discussion with Royal Mail to identify a longer term solution which suits all parties.”
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