MOTORISTS across Basingstoke and Deane look set to get a ten-minute grace period after their parking tickets run out.

Under a change in the law, which is expected to take effect at the end of March, the ten-minute leeway will apply to all on-street and off-street council parking spots across England.

The new rules, which have been approved as part of the Deregulation Bill, will apply to cars parked in pay-and-display bays or other spaces with time limits, and is designed to end decades of drivers’ complaints about returning to their cars minutes after a ticket expires to find they have been fined.

Announcing the changes, Government Minister for Local Government and Communities Eric Pickles said: “We are ending the war on drivers who simply want to go about their daily business.

“For too long, parking rules have made law-abiding motorists feel like criminals, and cause enormous damage to shops and businesses. Over-zealous parking enforcement undermines our town centres and costs councils more in the long term.”

However, the council’s Cabinet member for partnerships, Councillor Cathy Osselton, said the local authority already allows motorists ten minutes to return to their cars.

She said: “We recognise that drivers can sometimes slightly overstay past their parking ticket so we already allow a ten-minute grace period at council-owned car parks in the borough.

“We want to use our parking enforcement powers to ensure our car parks are used properly and fairly, not to catch out those that are a few minutes late back to their vehicle. We have also made it even easier to nip into the Top of The Town for a quick shopping trip by offering drivers 30 minutes free parking in our short stay car parks.”

Edmund King, president of The AA, which is based at Basing View, added: “This is a common sense move. All too often there are discrepancies between the car clock, the civic clock, the pay-and-display clock, the parking attendant’s clock and the driver’s watch, which all result in disputed tickets.”