Concerns have been raised after Merseyside Police removed a direct contact address for people to raise issues with dangerous pavement parking.
Until recently, the force operated a specific email address that could be used by residents of the region to report pavement parking - an issue that has dogged the streets of Merseyside for years.
Pavement parking refers to when drivers leave cars and other vehicles parked either partially or fully across pavements in a way that makes it hard for pedestrians to safely walk past. It can be a particular problem for parents with prams and people in wheelchairs.
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Every week in Liverpool in particular, frustrated people take to social media to share images and videos of pavement parking and urge the authorities to take more action.
Previously those same people were able to report those same examples to the specific police email address for pavement parking. However a recent decision means that address is no longer functioning.
The decision has caused concern amongst those campaigning for an end to pavement parking. Campaigner Terry Cotney, who lives in Mossley Hill sent a Freedom of Information Request to Merseyside Police requesting an explanation for a decision to scrap the contact address.
In its response, the police said that the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership - a collaboration between the police, city council and other partners - consists of just four members of staff and no longer has administrative staff to support them.
The response added: "Each member of staff has their specialised individual roles to focus on before we can look at any additionality, such as the pavement parking inbox.
"Whilst we appreciate pavement parking is an issue and have to tackle it in some way, we also realise there are a multitude of other road safety issues which have much more significant impact upon casualty numbers within our area.
"What we are attempting to do is streamline our process and handle intelligence submissions in such a way that we can give each area of road safety the proportionate amount of attention."
The FOI response also found that from the start of 2021 until February 2023, the force sent 967 letters to drivers as a result of the direct pavement parking email address.
Instead of the direct email address, people with concerns about pavement parking are being asked to submit them to the MRSP site, which can be found here.
Responding to the decision, Mr Cotney said: "That pavement parking email address was very very effective. I know lots of people who used it and those 900 letters sent out made lots of people change their behaviour.
"Out of all the ones I reported 90% stopped parking on pavements and to this day I walk past some that still park on the road. So it was very successful that’s why it’s a shame it stopped and shows how effective 3rd party reporting can be."
The change in reporting methods has clearly not reached all members of the police. On Wednesday the force's twitter account was still directing people to use the now defunct address.
Concerns have been expressed at how well a small team of four staff and no administrative support will be able to deal with hundreds of pavement parking complaints amongst other issues.
When asked for a full explanation about its decision to close the email address, a spokesperson for the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership said: "The Merseyside Road Safety Partnership (MRSP) pavement parking email account is now closed as we are changing the way we operate in terms of community led intelligence.
"We have not stopped dealing with matters such as obstructive parking but have changed the way we manage reports and deal with information from the community.
"This is mainly due to the lack of capacity available to deal with individual parking submissions, as well as a commitment to ensuring that all aspects of road safety get attention proportionate to its impact on our communities.
"We have created a refreshed intelligence submission form on the MRSP website where individuals can tell us about local traffic concerns. We will use this information to inform local councils and policing teams of issues within their area, thereby using information gained for a wider purpose rather than standalone incidents.
"Remaining unchanged, is the public’s facility to submit isolated road traffic incidents, including pavement parking incidents, to Merseyside Police via the force website."
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