A SHOP owner in Greenock has come out in support of the controversial parking disc scheme in force in the town centre.

Currently, vehicles can park free for two hours Monday to Friday between 8am-6pm if a disc is displayed.

But they have been a bone of contention due to inconsistency in the rules and regimes in place across the district.

Shoppers have complained about them and demanded they be removed in Greenock.

But Mairi Coventry, the owner of the Wee Crafty Owl shop, supports the system.

The entrepreneur says that in the three years she has been operating her craft shop on Jamaica Street, parking discs have helped to keep traffic flowing and spaces available.

She says that on days with no restrictions in place, footfall drops.

Mairi told the Tele said: “On Saturdays, and on public holidays, it's terrible, because people just park cars for the whole day and customers can't get near the shop.

“I actually had two phone calls on Saturday from people saying 'I've been going round in circles, I can't get in.'

"On a Saturday morning, which should be a busy day, it is so frustrating for me to hear customers cannot get in.

“You just need to look around and you'll see staff from other places parking their cars in the street.

"We need to keep the traffic moving and without the discs they would just be stuck.”

While Mairi supports the discs, she feels there is a shortage of car parking spaces in the town centre.

She said: “We're trying to encourage people to come down to the town and use it but they're not going to when they can't get parked.

“I have quite a lot of customers who are older, in wheelchairs or on crutches.

“They can’t get parked anywhere nearby - especially on Jamaica Street.

"There's just one disabled spot.

"We could do with a more spaces, that would help matters as well.

“But I think we need to keep the discs.

“They're easy enough to get - every shop has a pile of them and you can get them from the traffic wardens anywhere."