Northampton dog owner annoyed by bank staff parking in spaces reserved for Brackmills country park users

Jonathan Richards, 44, likes to take his Patterdale terrier Rusty for walks in the country park between Gowerton Road and Houghton Hill two to three times a week.

But for weeks he has found it difficult to park his car in the small area off Gowerton Road, near the park's entrance, because of Barclaycard employees leaving their vehicles there instead of outside their nearby offices in Pavillion Drive.

"It's really annoying for people like me because it's a local resource," said Mr Richards, an IT project manager, who is upset at the fact local people are being prevented from using the park as intended.

"The thing is they're not parking there illegally but if you look at their website, they say they support the local community, but this is a valuable resource for the community and for people with pets."

He claims he has photographs of staff removing their Barclaycard parking permits in order to park near the country park, but the bank did say that members of staff do use the country park in their spare time.

A spokesperson for Barclaycard said: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience which may have been caused to the users of the Country Park on Gowerton Road.

"Since this matter was raised, we have acted swiftly and have written to all our staff reminding them of the parking options available at our Northampton site - and encouraging them to use them.”