PARKING restrictions have left residents playing a game of 'Russian roulette' which costs them hundreds of pounds.

Now people living in Duke House and the Paramount Building flats on Princes Street want the council to extend parking zones to cover their building.

They say they are being forced to pay hundreds of pounds on town centre car parking permits.

Currently, the 180 households in the buildings fall between two parking zones, they say.

Resident Paul Cheesley, 51, said: “I was perfectly aware that the flat didn’t come with allocated parking space. But what I wasn’t aware of was that I had no parking permit.

“For all of us who do use cars but who are forced to park in an area that we’re not entitled to, every time you go to your car you’re thinking, ‘Am I going to have a ticket?’

“I was told by the council, ‘You live in the town centre, you don’t need a car.’ It seems a little bit discriminatory.”

Paul said he received three parking tickets this year, although one has been quashed.

According to Paul, one resident told him: “The council have you by the short and curlies. Not only will you have to pay council tax, but the added burden of a £625 per year parking permit.”

Dariusz Domin, 37, is paying £625 a year to park in the Whalebridge car park.

“It’s not totally safe, but it is safer than other car parks because there’s CCTV,” he said.

“In a highly developed country, everybody should have the right to a parking space.”

Paul and other residents have spoken about the parking restrictions to others living in the Princes Street flats and surrounding streets.

Those living in nearby streets are worried that allowing Duke House and Paramount Building residents to park on their roads would cause further congestion.

However, Princes Street residents are keen to find a solution to their parking woes.

Frustrated at not being able to pay £35 for an annual permit, Paul and Dariusz contacted the council to discuss the restrictions.

The campaigners have suggested created a “micro parking zone” for those living in the two buildings, giving over spaces in the Spring Gardens car park to the residents or the creation of a special permit for parking on Spring Gardens.

Swindon Borough Council has said that the flats fall into the town centre parking zone.

A spokesman said: “The Paramount Building and Duke House are both clearly within the town centre parking zone and residents can purchase permits for this area.

“The cost per day of a year-round permit, which allows the holder to park in any long-stay car park in the town centre, works out at £1.71 a day. A yearly off-peak permit, which is valid between 6pm and 9am, would cost just 41 pence a day.

“Unfortunately, we cannot increase the size of roads to accommodate more parked vehicles and merely extending Zone H would have a knock-on effect on residents living in neighbouring streets with the likelihood of more cars competing for a limited number of parking spaces.”