A MELKSHAM couple have lost their second house sale buyer in 11 months – after being too honest for their own good.

When Ian Nockolds left home to go to work on Tuesday, November 2 he saw a Wiltshire Council parking restriction notice on a lamppost and immediately informed his solicitor.

The notice said the council was running a consultation on proposals to remove all resident on-street parking in Church Walk where Ian has lived since 2010.

He and his wife, Sarah, were due to exchange contracts for the sale of their house later that day, enabling the couple, who have two young children Juliet, three, and Betty, 11 months, to move to a larger three-bedroom property in West Lavington.

In January, the couple’s first sale fell through after a potential buyer pulled out at the last minute. Now the same thing has happened again, leaving the family devastated because they had packed up everything ready to move on November 14.

Sarah said: “It’s been terrible. After weeks of worry in the lead-up to exchange, the contracts were all signed and we thought we were going to finally be settled in our new home well in time for Christmas. Now all that seems just a dream.”

“All we can do now is to forget all thought of removal vans, unpack and instead count the thousands of pounds in costs we lost as we sit and wait for the council to decide on our future.”

Mr Nockolds says parking outside their home in the future is now “blighted” pending the outcome of the consultation, the results of which won’t be known until the new year.

“Worse still, if all on-street parking is removed, our houses at best could lose thousands of pounds off their values.”

It is understood Wiltshire Council wants to stop residents parking on-street because of incidents where refuse vehicles have been unable to gain access at the Canon Square entrance.