The 'Redcoats', traffic wardens, Traffic attendants or parking attendants, whatever you want to call them, have had a tough time of it in the newspapers this year.

It was reported earlier this year that the two busiest attendants in Northern Ireland work in Enniskillen. But, whatever you think of the parking attendants, there is no doubt that they are doing their job. The rules are there to be adhered to and if motorists breach these rules, then they can expect to be penalised.

And it was one of these rules as laid down by the Department of Regional Development which alerted one 'Fermanagh Herald' reader to notify us. To the individual's amazement, they were told by a traffic attendant that a parking ticket paid for in one car park could not be used in another car park charging the same rate per hour.

The reader had parked in one car park to do some Christmas shopping and intended to return to their car to put their shopping in it and then move the car to another car park at the other end of town. The ticket which was paid up to the end of the day, however was not valid in the second car park.

When they pointed out that the car park they intended going to charged the same per hour as the car park they were currently parked in, they were told that this did not matter. Each ticket has a printed code so the traffic attendants can see which car park it was bought in and, if the ticket does not correspond to the car park the vehicle is parked in, then they are perfectly within their right to issue a ticket.

The 'Fermanagh Herald' asked the Department of Regional Development to explain why a ticket for car park 'A' which charged 30p an hour was not valid in car park 'B' which also charged 30p per hour. The following was the response that was received:

"Roads Service would consider that a ticket is not transferable between car parks."