A resident has called on the council to allow local people to park their motorhomes and campers in its car parks after being slapped with a £70 parking ticket.

Steve Hoare paid to park overnight at the Tregunnel Hill car park on Sunday, July 13 and was surprised to see the next morning that he had received a penalty parking notice at 6.30am.

He says he did not know Cornwall Council does not permit motorhomes and campers to park in its car parks between 11pm and 8am, which was brought in to deter people from sleeping in their vehicles. Mr Hoare said it was obvious he was not sleeping in his motorhome as the curtains were open.

He is unable to park the motorhome on his drive less than 50 yards away as the Duchy of Cornwall does not permit campervans onto the housing estate.

Mr Hoare is now calling for the unitary authority to allow local residents to pay to park their campervans and motorhomes at its car parks to prevent the vehicles from having to clog up much needed spaces on residential streets.

Mr Hoare said: “Our motorhome is normally in store at a secured pound in St Austell but occasionally we need to have the vehicle near our home for early starts the next day.

“It was one of those occasions and a Just Park ticket was purchased and the next morning we had a parking penalty notice.

“Looking into this I discovered motorhomes can’t use the carpark overnight. I can understand a no sleeping policy, but an empty motorhome is just the same as a car or commercial van paying for a space.

“We have parked the camper van in the Tregunnel Hill car park overnight before and not received a ticket.

“In future we will be forced to find street parking which seems ludicrous when most carparks are empty at night. I’m sure local residents won’t be at all happy either and it would contribute to the council coffers.

“I would like for the council to look into allowing town residents to pay for, and use, a carpark if they need to park an unoccupied motorhome occasionally.”

Trenance Cornwall councillor Drew Creek believes there needs to be a “more sensible” approach to prevent people sleeping in their vehicles in car parks and along Esplanade Road, which does not penalise local residents.

Cllr Creek said: “This is part of a wider parking problem in Newquay. We have local people parking along Esplanade Road at South Fistral in their camper van to just go for an early morning surf and they are issued a parking ticket by an enforcement officer for overnight sleeping, and they are not.

“These parking issues need dealing with. There needs to be a more pragmatic view. Local people who own a camper van need a place to park it.

“I would like to see a more sensible approach but also being mindful of the problem of people sleeping overnight in their vehicles.”