A furious 82-year-old pensioner has been forced to spend £600 after a bitter row with parents over parking – just so he can leave home during the school run. Alan Richardson, who lives close to Cadishead Primary School, has been left raging after claiming parents picking up their children block access to his property by parking on double yellow lines. Cameras have now been set up to catch the “selfish and inconsiderate” motorists.
Footage has caught drivers collecting their children from school at around 3pm after parking on double yellow lines intended to continue vehicle access for residents but has been preventing locals from leaving their home.
Mr Richardson said he has now been forced to spend hundreds of pounds to get a driveway made in front of his house just so he can get his own car out during the school run.
He told the Manchester Evening News (MEN): “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 .”
The pensioner said other locals living close to the school have also turned their gardens into driveways so they can park their own cars and leave their properties.
Valerie Greenhalgh lives opposite the school and has branded the situation as “crazy”.
She 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.”
Another local resident, Sue Sinnott, 69, added: “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.”
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However, she is also afraid that added restrictions to the drivers would increase the frustration for local residents, some of whom have two or three cars per household and already struggle for spaces to park.
She added: But it’s no good painting yellow lines around the junctions and then failing to enforce the regulations.”
A recent briefing by Salford City Council’s lead member for planning and sustainable development Councilor Mike McCusker has seen more double yellow lines painted on other junctions of the narrow roads around the school.
He acknowledged enforcement of parking restrictions around double yellow lines was an “issue”.
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The councilor told The Mirror: “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 imposing parking fines on motorists who break the restrictions will change their behavior 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 is 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 20 mph.”
