Cameras have been set up to catch ‘selfish and inconsiderate’ motorists who park on double yellow lines and across driveways near a primary school. The persistent problem has even forced one local to pay out for an extra driveway to stop drivers blocking access.
At around 3pm, drivers can be seen picking up children parked on double yellow lines at a busy junction. Residents in the area say they are ‘fed up’ with people picking their kids up from school, flouting existing ‘no waiting’ restrictions and obstructing driveways, Manchester Evening News reports.
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.
And she added: “But it’s no good painting yellow lines around the junctions and then failing to enforce the regulations."
Alan Richardson, 82, agreed, saying: “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 road converted their front gardens into driveways so they could park. David and Valerie Greenhalgh live opposite the school. Valerie 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."
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 Coun Mike McCusker.
Coun McCusker acknowledged that enforcement of parking restrictions around double yellow lines was an 'issue'. He told the MEN: "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.
"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."
