Crackdown on 'bad parking pandemic'

COUNCIL AND POLICE JOIN FORCES TO TACKLE IRRESPONSIBLE PAVEMENT-BLOCKERS

- ANDREW FORGRAVE

ANGRY residents have slammed the "pandemic" of bad parking blighting streets in towns, villages and cities. A crackdown is underway in Wrexham county to address an issue particularly frustrating for mums with buggies and the mobility and visually impaired.

Wrexham Council is working with North Wales Police (NWP) to tackle "irresponsible" pavement parking in the city centre. Online, pedestrians told how they're constantly forced onto roads after finding pavements blocked by vehicles that also obstruct buses, bin lorries and emergency services.

Delivery drivers and tradespeople have recently come under fire from police. But residents argue the problem is endemic, citing times when bus drivers and even police themselves have been at fault.

The NWP Wrexham policing team Town recently highlighted 13 city roads affected by poor parking or speeding. Matchday parking also causes misery for people living near Wrexham AFC's STOK Cae Ras stadium. Villages like Llay, Southsea, Rhos, Rossett and Cefn-yBedd have also been identified as problem areas for pavement parking.

On social media, people have been describing their fraught experiences. A woman on a mobility scooter found the pavement fully blocked by a car in Caia Park. "I could not get past it," she said. "I had to reverse backward till I could find a drop kerb - a pain as so many people park on drop kerbs as well."