The move is one of a raft of measures announced yesterday and due to come into effect in the next month to help local shops.

Other changes mean that the use of CCTV ‘spy cars’ to enforce parking rules will be banned, apart from on no-parking areas around bus stops, bus lanes, red routes and schools.

Other changes include powers to challenge on issues like inadequate parking signage and residents and businesses can petition councils to review unreasonable parking policies.

Meanwhile councils will be barred from the "heavy-handed" use of bailiffs to collect fines and drivers won’t have to pay fines if they are unable to buy a ticket because parking meters are out of order.

And councils are also being asked to trial giving motorists who lose an appeal against a parking ticket a 25% discount on the fine as currently applied to motorists who pay up immediately without challenging the fine. Councils have also been reminded that they are banned from "using parking to generate profit".

Communities secretary Ed Pickles said: “We’re ending the war on drivers who simply want to go about their daily business. For too long parking rules have made law-abiding motorists feel like criminals and caused enormous damage to shops and businesses.

“Over-zealous parking enforcement undermines our towns.”

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin added: “These measures will deliver a fairer deal for motorists and help boost the high street by ensuring that parking enforcement is proportionate while also protecting school children and keeping key routes and bus lanes clear.”