My council has come up with a ‘bizarre’ car parking solution – it doesn’t make sense
A DAD was left fuming after discovering his council's "bizarre" street parking plan - and said he gets "very wound up" when he sees cars using it.
Ian Hodgson, 49, said he instantly had to pull over and take a photo when he spotted the council had painted parking spots over the pavement.
The dad-of-two, from Lancashire, saw the outlandish parking solution while driving into the town with his wife to go shopping.
And she got a fright when he suddenly pulled over and leapt out of the car with his phone in hand.
Cars that had mounted the kerb to get into the parking spots now line the pavement - but Ian thought it would make it difficult for mobility scooters and wheelchairs to use the footpath.
Ian told The Sun Online: "It was such a bizarre thing - how long it’s been like that, I don’t know.
“It’s just unusual isn’t it, that the council would encourage people to park on the path.
“I can’t comprehend that.”
Little did Ian know, the parking bays were brought in under legislation by the Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.
And, they’re scattered on many roads across the town.
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The 49-year-old said: “The bizarre thing is it’s just a bit down from a medical centre. It’s a main route.”
Ian said he walks to work every day, and gets agitated when people block footpaths and cycle lanes.
He added: “I was in disbelief. I get very wound up when I see it.
“It does grab me a little bit.”
Martin Eden, the council’s strategic director of environment and operations, said the car parks had been set up that way for two years, and are all over the town.
Mr Eden told The Sun Online: “These markings which allow partial pavement parking have been at this location on Haslingden Road for two years and allows more efficient parking and keeps a busy and major route to the Royal Blackburn Hospital and Junction 5 of the M65 free and unobstructed.
“These kind of markings are allowed under legislation and we also have multiple other locations within the borough that have this type of parking.
“They are measured to allow enough space for mobility scooters, wheelchairs and prams to get by on the pavement.”
The council did not answer questions about whether it had received any complaints over the car parks.
