DRIVEN MAD
I’ve been forced to fork out £600 for an extra DRIVEWAY to stop ‘selfish’ parents from blocking me in with bad parking
A MAN has been left fuming after being forced to fork out £600 for an extra driveway to stop "selfish" parents from blocking him in with bad parking.
Alan Richardson, 82, and other residents are "fed up" with parents flouting the road laws when picking up their children from Cadishead Primary School in Manchester.
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The problem has got so bad that four mobile cameras are set to be deployed around local schools to enforce no waiting regulations which are broken on a daily basis.
And the persistent problem has even forced Alan to pay for an extra driveway to stop drivers blocking access.
Speaking to the Alan said: “There are times when I just can’t get off my drive, there are that many cars around. It’s prompted me to have a drive made at the front of my house, costing £600.”
He said that other residents in Manchester converted their front gardens into driveways so they could park.
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David and Valerie Greenhalgh who live opposite the school said: “It’s crazy how some people park. They’re parking on yellow lines now, so I don’t see that painting more is going to make much difference, if the restrictions are not going to be enforced."
While others have had enough of the "no waiting" restrictions being flouted with driveways often obstructed.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service visited the roads outside the school at around 3pm this week.
They saw drivers picking up children parked on existing double yellow lines at the junction of Allotment Road, Moss Side Road and Prospect Road
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Sue Sinnott, 69, said: “It’s ridiculous. There are people coming here and parking from 2.15pm onwards just so they can get a convenient space near the school.
"Some of them live within easy walking distance of here. It's madness.
“You can see the line of cars stretching all the way down Moss Side road, some of them parking across people’s driveways.”
But she added the extra restrictions would also cause a headache for local residents, some of whom have two or three cars per household and already struggle for spaces to park.
Sue said: “But it’s no good painting yellow lines around the junctions and then failing to enforce the regulations."
Additional double yellow lines are now also to be painted on other junctions of the narrow roads around the school.
This follows a briefing by Salford City Council’s lead member for planning and sustainable development Councillor Mike McCusker.
Mr McCusker acknowledged that enforcement of parking restrictions around double yellow lines was an "issue".
He said: "But without double yellow lines and zig-zags outside schools, we can't enforce anything.
"We are introducing the cameras on a trial basis and we are currently patrolling two schools where there is a problem. But it takes a while for it [the enforcement action] to have an impact.
"The hope is that by imposing parking fines on motorists who break the restrictions it will change their behaviour and that word spreads around to other parents.
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"This is very much a trial. But I get regular reports of accidents in my role and there a graph that shows that over a rolling 10-year period there has been a reduction of serious injuries and deaths, so it's going in the right direction.
"Parking badly near schools can have tragic consequences, even with speeds restricted to 20mph."
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