BAD feeling about windsurfers ignoring parking charges at a cafe car park by Overcombe beach in Weymouth has now resulted in them being banned.

A new £6 charge for vehicle owners with watersports equipment was recently introduced at the Cafe Oasis car park off Preston Beach Road.

But proprietor Paul Cocks says they were ignoring it - and he has now banned them from parking.

The Cafe Oasis car park and the raised area of the beach near it is not public land but leasehold land intended for the use of cafe customers, he points out.

Weymouth windsurfer Nick Dempsey, a current number one in the RS:X Olympic class, was one of the people who spoke out about the new charges.

He said: "It is a really big problem. It's the best windsurfing spot and it's going to destroy it.

"It's going to deter windsurfers and be bad all round."

Mr Cocks said that the green permits for watersports users were imposed after the surfing and windsurfing community effectively ignored the previous low-charge pay and display scheme introduced last year. He said: "We had a situation where it was full of windsurfing vehicles and our customers again couldn't get in."

Anyone with watersports equipment from surfboards to kayaks was required to buy a £6 permit, but local windsurfer Nick Bratt of Broadwey said people were fed up with the unfairness of the charge.

He said: "What's really annoying is that you can go and take the dog for a walk for 50p but if you have a board in your car it's £6.

"There is a set of people who have great big vans and park all day with their own tea and coffee but there are lots of people who just bring a board or a kayak in their car and, like me, spend lots of money in Paul's cafe. I might not any more.

"I just don't think he's thought it through."

Now Mr Cocks has decided to stop all watersports vehicles from using the land leased to Cafe Oasis.

He said that there is a council car park across the road and public parking available in the road.