Dear Sir,
I wish to complain about a letter that was printed last week ‘obstructing footpaths and bad parking’. On the surface, it did look as though someone had quite carelessly parked their vehicles there. However, this is not the full story and it is a shame it went to print like this. I do not own or drive any of the cars in the picture. However, I do live directly opposite, where those cars had been originally parked that morning.
The bungalows, as the claimant stated, are being demolished, and the construction crews were using one of the old driveways as a building site entrance. There was heavy plant machinery being driven in and out, with skip wagons constantly arriving to take skips away all day.
The road in our street is narrow, and residents do struggle to park. However, that morning, the site traffic was struggling to reverse into, and out of, the afore-mentioned site entrance. The foreman came across the road and asked if we would mind moving our cars to the far side because he was worried about them getting damaged by the lorries reversing in such a tight space. I did not need to move my car, but several other people did, and THAT was the moment the photos were taken. The cars were moved, temporarily, for site access.
The fact that someone would attempt to use a wheelchair across such a busy site entrance beggars belief; especially considering the path on the other side of the road is completely clear and safe to use. It has an abundance of dropped kerbs.
We all have to be tolerant during times of change. The site traffic has now moved on, to another part of Travellers Green, so it is very unlikely those cars will have to be moved across the road again. They were up on the kerb because the road is not wide enough for cars to be parked on both sides of it, and there was no-where else to park. There was a perfectly accessible footpath on the other side of the road.
The real issue here is the lack of parking in residential roads. It will continue to be a problem for a long time to come. But sensationalist letters like this do little to appease those of us who get caught in the crossfire for trying to co-operate with everyone.
Kind regards,
- Rollo.
