A children’s football club has been forced to urge those attending matches to park responsibly.
Macduff Lions hosted a tournament involving juvenile teams from across Aberdeenshire on Easter Sunday.
But while it was a huge success, the streets around the Macduff Sports Centre became clogged with inappropriately-parked cars.
Myrus Circle and Duff Street were among the worst affected, with many town motorists finding difficulty negotiating their way past the parked cars.
Some residents found their driveways blocked as those making their way to the tournament simply parked across them.
With another tournament due to be held on the sport centre’s all-weather football pitches this coming weekend, club officials have appealed for all who attend to park responsibly.
Macduff Lions committee said they had been made aware of “bad parking or poor decision making” by motorists during the previous competition.
The statement said they made everyone involved aware of the car parks in the town, set out traffic cones on Duff Street and asked other teams not to block driveways with their vehicles.
It continued: “We are holding another festival this Sunday and again we have emphasised the importance of parking sensibly to all club attending.
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“This type of event takes in much needed revenue for the club, allowing us to keep our fees as low as possible, which in turn helps keep the club accessible to all.
“This allows the club to continue to both encourage and develop our young players, which we hope benefits our wider community for many years to come.
“We really do welcome all local support and we will continue to try and resolve any future issues in an open and constructive manner.”
Rodney Innes lives in Gaveny Place and said he had been left “frustrated” by the number of cars using the pavement as a makeshift car park.
Mr Innes said he did not blame Macduff Lions for the situation, however, and in fact praised the club for its efforts to resolve the issue.
He said: “I do commend the club for their efforts, instructing people to park in the school car parks and to be sensible about parking.
“It’s not their fault. They tried their best but obviously drivers just wanted to be as close as possible to the event.
“I thought it was just abysmal the way they just parked in any space they could without any thought of inconvenience to others.”
Macduff councillor Ross Cassie said parking outside the pitches had been troublesome ever since they opened to the public in 2016.
He said the stance taken by Macduff Lions had been “sensible” and joined his voice to calls for drivers to take care when visiting the centre.
Mr Cassie said: “This is a very sensible decision.
“I would urge everybody to give residents the appropriate access when it comes to parking around there.”
Last night, an Aberdeenshire Council spokeswoman said the local authority’s roads department had received one complaint relating to the parking issues in Macduff.
