08 Feb 2024
Neighbours in a Fleetville street say traffic wardens are swooping on their vehicles up to five times a day but are failing to deal with dangerous parking outside a local school.
Residents of Cavendish Road have reached the end of their tether following weeks of what they say is targeted activity by SADC parking enforcement teams, sometimes as late as 7.15 at night.
They are questioning whether it is a new council policy for wardens to work overtime to increase revenue, and asking why there is no traffic enforcement action to deal with parents collecting from nearby SS Alban and Stephen Primary School, who ignore restrictions and often park on double yellow lines and zig-zags.
Motorists parking in Cavendish Road require a residential or visitor’s permit between 1.30-3.30pm, but parking enforcement officers are rarely spotted during this time.
Local residents are fuming about the situation.
One neighbour said: “I genuinely think they are only coming round here at times when they know they’ll be able to ticket people. Parking restrictions are in place to ensure safe roads and not block access, but they are only coming when the roads are quiet, no children are around and it is unlikely any of those cars cause inconvenience.
“If they were really concerned about the true reasons for restrictions then they’d be down here during school drop-off and pick-up hours. It’s far more dangerous the way some parents are parking on the road in the mornings.”
Another added: “Arguably they should be enforcing the restricted hours as that is what we are paying for with our permits. There’s no justification for ticketing at the hours they are, and nowhere to be seen when there’s actually a problem. They’ll probably ask us to cover the overtime in the next wave of permit price increases!”
One homeowner said: “It still blows my mind that parents park on zig-zag lines outside school when picking up their own children. Unfortunately with these things it usually takes an accident or near miss for someone to finally take it seriously.”
But SADC denies having increased its deployment plan for parking enforcement officers, and the authority will not be giving any special attention to parking violations outside SS Alban and Stephen School.
A spokesperson said: “With over 70 schools in the district, it is not possible to be at them all at the same time. We try to deploy to schools where there is a parking problem and take enforcement action where appropriate.
Enforcement action is taken in a fair and consistent manner throughout the district.”
The council also denied that motorists are ticketed outside the restricted period of 1.30-3.30pm: “Penalty Charge Notices will only be issued where vehicles are parked in contravention of restrictions.”
However, the spokesperson did say residents can request a review of restrictions in a Controlled Parking Zone via their website, including the size of parking spaces and timings. Cavendish Road includes unused spaces for motorcycles, and a disproportionately small bay which has historically always been there.
‘Parents parking permits’ issued by the school offering a stay of grace during drop-off and pick-up were not valid, said the spokesperson.
“There is no special arrangement nor do we issue parent parking permits. Parking on single and double yellow lines during prescribed times is prohibited although some exemptions of variable times may exist. A CEO will observe a vehicle to ensure that an exemption does not apply before issuing a PCN. Parking on school keep-clear lines during prescribed hours will result in an immediate PCN.”
Separate to the issue of parking breaches is the matter of paperless permits, which were introduced by SADC last July, with a promise that residents will be sent a reminder letter when they need to review.
