It should come as no surprise to discover that around 20 parking tickets a day are being handed out to Keighley motorists by wardens.

There have been plenty of warning shots fired and you don’t need a degree in traffic management to work out that the indiscriminate parking in the town centre is affecting the daily lives of many people and businesses. It had to be brought under control. The cynic would make the obvious remarks about targets, as the council’s parking service is self-financing. New figures show that more than £850,000 has been raised since the council took over responsibility from the police. Not so says the council, as the aim is to improve parking and get traffic moving more freely around the town.

Hopefully, the penny will drop that if you park correctly and pay the right amount of money, if appropriate, then you have no need to worry.

The bigger question to ask is why are so many people laying themselves open to getting a costly ticket? What is it that makes drivers think it is in order to park on double yellow or just abandon their cars wherever and whenever they see fit?

It isn’t just a few. Across the Bradford district 6,200 tickets were issued in June alone.

Council officials say that there is growing evidence that parking habits have improved, which in turn is improving the flow of traffic.

What is disconcerting is that something as simple as parking has turned into a multi-million pound industry — from the manufacturers of yellow paint to pads on which to write out tickets; from teams of legal eagles and council officers needing to impose the law.

Funny world isn’t it!