An Instagram account has been created that is documenting bad parking across the Holyland in Belfast.
Holylands Parking is an Instagram account that was set up last month in order to highlight parking in the South Belfast area and as already gained thousands of followers.
The page was originally set up as a humorous way of highlighting poor parking and those running it never expected it to become so popular, so quickly, with 1,000 followers after just one day.
Read more: Residents call for action to tackle problem parking in the Holyland
Speaking to Belfast Live, the person running Holylands Parking, who does not wish to be named, said that they are now receiving messages on a daily basis highlighting poor parking with many people asking "did someone really think it was ok to park like that?"
They said: "I know the guys over at the confession page 'QUB Love' and occasionally you would see posts of badly parked cars around the Holyland and the student area in general and it seemed to resonate well with people, at least for the most part. So I decided an Instagram dedicated to it would be funny.
"I didn’t think it would take off though, I was kind of taken back. It had hit 1000 followers on just the first day and at that point I knew it was something waiting to be done.
"It’s understandable some people see it as an annoyance, especially with the likes of parking on footpaths and whatnot, but in the realm of students, there’s more of a comedic side to it, which I think is expected. It has people asking “did someone really think it was okay to park like that?”.
"Judging by the amount of DMs [direct messages] that the page gets, it seems to be a continual thing, with students spotting badly parked cars on a daily basis.
"At the same time, I’ve quickly noticed that it’s added a new community aspect to The Holyland, with the page quickly gathering a large following that continues to grow, bringing students together to have a collective laugh at something that’s just on their doorstep.
"I believe people almost have a sense of pride when they see a popular post that originated from the street they live on too, which is nice to see I guess."
The person behind the page once lived in the Holyland and still has friends currently living in the area and said that they have witnessed the bad parking for themselves.
They said they understand the concerns that many in the area have around parking and feel that it could be a difficult problem for the police and council to address.
They also said they would not feel comfortable with parking in the area themselves due to issues with cars being damaged, such as having wing mirrors kicked off.
They continued: "I’m no longer living in the Holyland, but I’ve plenty of friends who do live there at the minute, many of which have sent in their own photos of badly parked cars!
"I am still in the area quite frequently and have seen some of the parking myself.
"I think there could be more done, and I understand people are pushing for the police and the council to remedy the ongoing issue but I believe it’ll be a hard issue to tackle in the long term.
"As much as this page could be seen to have a silver lining, which is illustrating the issue to thousands of people, the majority of followers on this page are here for the comedic side, which I don’t see as a form of remedy to the issue.
"I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable parking my car in the Holyland due to the ongoing issue of wing mirrors being kicked of, whether this is partly due to cars being parked badly is an entirely different conversation."
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