Claims of a loophole in parking restrictions on Oxford High Street have been highlighted. 

A car is repeatedly parking in a street trader's bay and cyclists and other vehicles have to go round it, according to locals. 

There are no yellow line restrictions as it is a bay for a food vendor.

READ MORE: Eagle and Child gets a visit from its new American owners 

The county council has confirmed the vehicle is not illegally parked but said it is investigating measures to prevent drivers parking there.

Ordinary traffic is banned from using the High Street during the day and there is a camera-enforced bus gate.

Conduent, the contractors who carry out parking enforcement for the council, said: "Street trader bays in Oxford can only be enforced if they have double yellow lines going through them and this one does not require them.

"The person parking this vehicle is not committing any offence. They are legally parked."

Hugh Nicholson-Lailey, who spotted the car parked in the same spot on numerous occasions, said: "Can it really be true that this is a parking spot in central Oxford, on the High Street without any restrictions and without any charges?

Oxford Mail: The car parked in the High Street"That’s a sweet loophole that this driver exploits on a daily basis. This car is always there on my morning commute and was there in mid-day Monday when I visited the bank.

READ MORE: Boat stranded a month after floods 

"It's fine for this to continue as an evening pitch for street trading but I’d argue that parking here during the working day commute creates a real danger to other road users and the council needs to place day-time restrictions.

"Parking in this bay blocks the cyclist’s line adjacent to the bus gate, creates a pinch-point and pushes all cyclists into the path of the numerous buses and taxis travelling towards Carfax.

"I’d recommend that the council extend the double-yellow lines through this street trader box to prevent any parking beyond the licensed trading hours for the registered street vendor."

A county council spokesman said: "This bay does not currently have any parking restrictions in place.

"However, our parking team is looking at bringing in measures to stop people from parking there, although we are not able to put a timescale on this yet.

"Conduent are the contractors who carry out parking enforcement on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council."

The High Street bus gate is a traffic filter which has been in place for many years.

Now the council is planning to introduce six new bus gates - or traffic filters around the city.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get: 

  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website 
  • Advert-light access 
  • Reader rewards 
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.