Councillor raises concerns over fines issued during bollard fault

Lewis Smith, Local Democracy Reporter

A councillor has asked the local authority to consider reimbursing fines issued to people parking in a town centre over the last few months, after what he said was confusion around access to the area.

Councillor Ian Williams, of Oldcastle, raised the matter at a full council meeting in February, 2026, after reports of parking officers “booking drivers” he said had mistakenly parked in Bridgend town centre because a bollard was down and not working.

The call followed the approval of an experimental traffic order (ETO) in September, 2025, to extend loading and unloading hours in a number of streets such as Queen Street, Dunraven Place, and Market Street.

These streets are currently closed to traffic between the hours of 10am and 6pm with bollards in place blocking access to pedestrianised parts of the town.

Along with extending the opening times, the experimental order, which is not yet in force, would also see cyclists allowed in the pedestrianised zone, with existing taxi bays in Derwen Road converted to blue badge parking spaces and the potential for taxis to have greater access.

However, some members felt this did not go far enough as, despite the plans for loading and unloading times to be extended, the majority of cars would still not be allowed to park in the streets.

At the most recent meeting, Cllr Williams said there had been a “great deal of confusion” over who and what was allowed into the town centre when the bollard was down following the approval of the ETO last year.

He also made reference to signage in the area which he said people didn’t understand, as well as a council press announcement which had caused additional confusion.

The council’s leader, Cllr John Spanswick, accepted that it did sound confusing, though he added that neither he nor any other councillor had the power to rescind fixed penalty notices.

Cllr Eugene Caparros, who is cabinet member for climate change and the environment, said the announcement put out by the authority in September was to register the agreement to work on access for the town centre, not that the changes had come into effect.

When it came to the bollard being down, he said even though it was unfortunate that it was faulty, the current traffic order for the pedestrianised streets still stood.

He added that he had sympathy for people who had received a notice where they weren’t expecting it, and encouraged them to appeal fines if they felt they had a strong enough case.

It is now anticipated that new road signs will be put up when the experimental order for Bridgend town centre comes in to effect.