Business goes down as penalties go up

Butcher Manuel Fernandes is on the front line in the battle against the traffic wardens in Lambeth's £3 million street.

He is being hit by fines of £1,500 a month by wardens who swoop on his deliveries and claims he loses more than £3,000 a month because shoppers are deterred by strict parking controls.

The Evening Standard spent one day in Atlantic Road and saw one car fined £350 while a 20-metre stretch of road claimed three victims in under an hour.

We witnessed eight wardens patrol the 400-metre road, already covered by CCTV cameras. Mr Fernandes, 48, owner of O Thalo, said he gets 30 tickets a month delivering goods to his butcher shop. "We're allowed 20 minutes in the loading bays but sometimes it takes longer," he said.

At 8.47am, before the halal butchers, fishmongers and wig shops opened, the Standard saw wardens claim their first victim - a Ford Fiesta, which had been ticketed the previous day. By 9.45am it was towed away - costing its owner ?350 in release fees. With just three loading bays dotted between the yellow lines, Atlantic Road is easy pickings for wardens and the eight we saw patrolled within the same five hours.

Warden No 511, who would not give his name, said: "I once ticketed 10 cars in one day in this road."

Between 12.30pm and 1.30pm, three cars were ticketed - including a disabled BMW driver who had accidentally set his blue badge to the wrong time.

Scores more will soon receive parking tickets through the post, having fallen foul of the two CCTV cameras. Delivery drivers call it a local congestion charge and add the price of tickets to delivery costs. Mike John, 45, of Jalal Ltd, said: "It's £50 for simply unloading goods."

Wardens point to the nearby Brixton multi-storey car park as an alternative - but locals claim it is dangerous and strewn with drug addicts' debris.

Some drivers have taken matters into their own hands. We found five cars parked on a yellow line which all displayed disabled badges, despite being driven by able-bodied drivers.

Lambeth may earn £3 million from Atlantic Road, but businesses warn it will cost the council far more when shoppers decide to go elsewhere.