Seventeen illegally parked vehicles were ticketed by police in just one afternoon in Wisbech – at £30 a time.

“There are numerous free car parks in Wisbech so please make use of them,” said a police spokesman sharing the news on the Facebook page Policing Wisbech.

Retired county councillor Alan Lay captured 15 of the illegally parked cars or vans on camera after spending the same afternoon walking around the town.

He said: “It is an everyday occurrence of the blatant and total disregard for traffic laws and common sense.

“The local police state they issue about 100 tickets a month at £30 each. It should be 100 tickets per day totalling £3,000.”

Fenland district councillor Virginia Bucknor called the crackdown “excellent news” instead of “people having to take their pushchairs and wheelchairs into the road because of selfish inconsiderate drivers”.

However one person said on Facebook: “But why not have traffic wardens so police can do more important work?”

Another added: “Well done but it needs doing on a regular basis - not enough every now and then.”