For village shopkeeper Alma Floyd a warning to her customers about 'over-zealous' traffic officials was all part of the service.
If she spotted Police Community Support Officers ticketing cars outside her family-run dairy she alerted shoppers so they could avoid them.
But now the helpful Mrs Floyd, 60, has been threatened with arrest if she continues to help her customers to avoid parking tickets.
Police have warned the rural shopkeeper she is interfering with the officers 'in their line of duty' - and said she could risk prosecution.
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Worried Mrs Floyd said she feared the parking crackdown could mean financial ruin for her shop in Cheddar, Somerset, which has been a village landmark since the 1940s.
Customers have parked their cars on the six-metre wide pavement outside Highnam's Dairy since then without a problem, while they shop for traditional treats like clotted cream and ice cream.
But in February shoppers were banned from using the makeshift car park by police, who claimed the three parking spaces were a public safety risk.
Since then PCSOs, nicknamed the 'plastic police' because of their lack of training and powers, have patrolled the area and ticketed any cars parked there.
The move has proved unpopular and residents in the historic tourist village passed a vote of no confidence in the PCSOs at recent parish council meeting, over fears the patrolling officers will deter tourists and hit trade.
Mrs Floyd said: 'Ever since the new parking rules were introduced we have seen a slump in trade.
'The crackdown on parking on that pavement means passing motorists have nowhere to park, and they don't come in.
'So I've been looking out for them whenever they come near - it's the only thing I can do.'
Mrs Floyd, who has run the dairy shop with her husband John, 65, for the last 12 years, said she was warned she could risk arrest last week, after she pleaded with a PCSO not to give a ticket to a customer.
She said: 'I rushed out to say "Don't book them, they're only here for a few minutes", but the over-zealous PCSOs wouldn't listen and it led to an argument.
'I'm not proud of my actions, but I found it extremely difficult not to raise my voice, and I told them to b****r off.
'The following day a police sergeant appeared at the door and warned me that I could be arrested if I interfered with PCSOs in the line of duty.
'It's very upsetting, because we'll lose our trade as well as our regular customers.'
Sean Hockley, who owns a flooring shop in Cheddar, said: 'We've had to move out of the High Street because of [delivery] drivers getting hassle, staff getting hassle, everyone getting hassle.'
Supt Gary Davies, from Avon and Somerset Police, said residents who did not comply with the new rules could face arrest.
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