Residents can currently park in Hucknall's Piggins Croft car park without the need for a ticket whilst repairs are made to the ticket machines which are currently out of order.

Earlier this month Ashfield District Council announced the decision to offer two hours free car parking in town centre car parks across the District to encourage people to shop locally and support small businesses.

When taking advantage of the free parking though, people have always been expected to display a ticket or risk being fined.

However, there have been recent issues with the majority of ticket machines in the car park which has caused major disruption and irritation to those using the parking facilities. Pictures have emerged of long queues of people waiting to use the only working machine and the issues have caused congestion in the car park itself.

Cllr Jim Blagden, Councillor for Hucknall Central said "We are aware that three of the ticket machines in Piggins Croft car park, Hucknall, have broken over the weekend. We appreciate the inconvenience this has caused visitors to the town centre and so we have taken the decision to bag up all four parking machines until they can be fixed.

"There are also notices attached to the machines informing residents that a ticket is not required whilst the machines are out of order. The traffic wardens are also aware, however, they can still issue fines for parking contraventions such as parking outside of white lines and or inappropriate use of disabled parking bays. We are working closely with the manufacturer to arrange the repairs to the machines as quickly as possible."