Douglas Council has agreed to extend a trial that allows the fire and rescue service to park in local authority parking bays.

In June 2019, councillors had granted the fire service permission to park in its spaces in Shaw’s Brow car park, when staff were on call-outs or inspections within the town centre.

A report showed that the initial trial had proved to be a success and neither the council nor the fire service reported any issues with parking spaces not being available.

The council’s environmental services committee recommended that the agreement be continued for a further six months with another review to be undertaken at the end of the period.

The request for the spaces last year came about because the fire service said while it has spaces it shares with the police in Douglas, the constabulary is usually occupying them.

Only livered cars belonging to the fire and rescue service are allowed to park in the spaces and they must display the permit issued to them.

The agreement works on a first come, first served ad hoc basis.

As the council does not pay to park its own vehicles at Shaw’s Brow, allowing the fire service to park in them has come at no additional cost to ratepayers.