Drivers in Leicester are blaming a lack of traffic wardens for parking gridlock in the city.
The number of wardens has fallen as ticketing duties are transferred to community support officers - who also have other responsibilities.
Leicester City Council is due to take over the issuing of parking fines in two years.
Insp Richard Hiom of Leicestershire police said they are attempting to address the problems in the meantime.
Many visitors
He said community support officers - who were traffic wardens - and police officers both issue fixed penalty tickets.
"Clearly we can't let the city centre become gridlocked.
"Literally hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of fixed penalty tickets are issued on a yearly basis and that will continue.
"At the end of the day we are a major city centre and we do have thousands of people who come into the city centre on a regular basis."
One-Minute World News
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