People are parking dangerously on a pavement in Ivybridge and a mother with a pram was nearly hit by a vehicle, the town council has been told.

Resident Colin Smith told a Town Council meeting that the incident happened outside Day Lewis on Fore Street.

While some vans had to park there to make deliveries to shops and businesses, others were parking on the pavement and causing an obstruction, he said.

Colin said: “There was an incident when I saw a lady with a pram, a car swung in onto the pavement and how it missed I don’t know.

“In the evenings it’s chocker and even during the daytimes people park on the pavements.

Another issue is that those parking illegally are damaging the surface of blocks which are breaking up and creating a hazard for people walking.

Colin continued: “I live in independent living just down the road and Dame Hannah’s (which helps adults with disabilities) is not far away so it it is dangerous for wheelchairs, pedestrians and pushchairs.

“I don’t want to stop lorries as businesses need to fill up during the day.”

Devon County Councillor Roger Croad said on-street parking was the responsibility of Devon County Council commenting: “The traffic wardens are only there at certain times and people know when they are there.

“There has been a problem there since the street was made one way a number of years ago.

There is also an issue with people parking in disabled spaces to use the fish and chip shop.”

Cllr Matt Steele who is a town and district councillor, owner of the Ivybridge Bookshop and Chair of the Chamber of Commerce said: “Honestly we don’t have enough parking in Ivybridge.

“It’s always a bit chaotic with people trying to park where they shouldn’t, there are deliveries coming in and can’t find a place to park, they’ve got to go somewhere and they run the risk of getting a ticket which happened yesterday.

“If you come down on a Friday evening you’ll see it’s carnage down here.

“We could carve out a few more parking bays where the pavement is quite wide.”