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Outraged families are being charged £215 for 'permission' to drive across their pavement - to their own homes.
Neighbours along a quiet street in Barry, South Wales, were left shocked when the Vale of Glamorgan council sent letters telling drivers they needed to pay an admin fee to cross pavements to reach their drives.
The families were warned it was illegal for them to cross the paving to take their cars into their own homes and told they could be fined.
Residents say they have been driving across the pavement for years without any problems after moving into their home with the driveways already installed decades ago.
Council chiefs have now been branded 'heavy-handed' for clamping down on homes where driveways were put in after homes were built - and where home-owners bump over the kerb to get in.
Outraged families are being charged £215 to drive across their pavement in Barry, South Wales
Joanna Yarr, who lives on one of the affected roads, said: 'When we purchased our house in 2013, off-road parking was a selling feature.
'We don't understand why - if the access to the driveway was not legal - did it not come up in the local searches?
'It will cost us hundreds and we will have to use their approved contractors.
'Caradoc Avenue is not wide enough for us all to park on the road and as it's often used as a through road it would cause havoc to do so.
'The pavement is only around 44mm high along this road and it's going to cost thousands to have the work done.