An anonymous parking vigilante has sparked a row in the Bedminster area of Bristol by leaving a series of angry notes on drivers’ windshields.
The notes began to appear late on Saturday and early on Sunday along British Road, with their author demanding that the drivers “park on your own street”.
According to The Bristol Post, most of the notes collected from the unknown resident reads: “Dear vehicle owner/driver, The residents of British Road have noticed that you park on this street regularly, yet do not live on this street.
“Please be mindful of the residents who wish to park near their own properties. We respectfully ask you to park your vehicle on the street that you live on, in future.”
Some of the notes had clearly been custom-made to target specific vehicles.
One note had been typed up and placed on an unmarked van that had a “BT engineer on call” sign on its dashboard. The note fumed: “YOU DO NOT WORK FOR BT!!!”
Another, handwritten this time, was fixed to another van and said simply: “Help yourself.”
A resident of British Road, who asked not to be named, told The Post: “Parking is an absolute nightmare around here, and people spend a lot of time driving around looking for a space, so I understand people get frustrated, but this is a bit sinister.
“Whoever wrote this does not speak for everyone on this road at all. How do they know the people who own those vehicles don’t live nearby?
“Because parking is a nightmare here, you do sometimes have to park a fair distance away from where you live. There are too many cars and not enough street. But the main thing is, whoever posted this note doesn’t seem to realise they have no greater claim over the road outside where they live than anyone else.”
She continued: “It’s not their road, it’s everyone’s. There’s no residents’ parking scheme here, there’s no restrictions, people can park where they like for however long they want. If this notice-writer wants to guarantee they can park their car outside their home, they need to move to a house with its own drive.”
Parking in the area has reportedly been contentious for several years now, with the rise of working from home exacerbating pre-existing tensions caused, in part, by holidaymakers leaving their cars in Bedminster’s streets for a week or two at a time as they make use of an airport bus service, which stops nearby.
Parents dropping off their children at Compass Point Primary School in the area have complained to the council over the difficulty of finding a spot while Avon Fire and Rescue Service has likewise warned that overcrowded streets can prove difficult for emergency vehicles to access.
