In a protest to prevent hospital staff and patients from parking in front of their houses, irate neighbors have blockedaded their roadway with wheelie bins.
Green bins have been placed in the road by Alderton Road residents in Sherwood, Nottingham, to deter drivers from parking on the right and left sides of the street, on yellow lines, and across driveways.
The situation, according to locals, has gotten worse over the past several weeks. Many of them think the adjacent City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Center’s reinstatement of parking fees is to blame.
Patients and workers are said to be parking on the residential road in a bid to avoid the costly tickets at the hospitals.
Public transport buses have also been affected by the additional parking on the road, with operator Nottingham City Transport saying that they have had to stop routes early and divert vehicles because of the blockage.
In an effort to prevent cars from parking on the road, residents of Nottingham’s Alderton Road have taken matters into their own hands and placed wheelie bins outside of their homes.
Because of the traffic, the Blue 40 bus is unable to make stops at Alderton Road, Longmead Drive, and Northwood Crescent.
Residents claim they’ve had enough and demand that the neighborhood receive permits just like the other highways and streets.
Local resident Jessica Landa, 29, said: “It’s really crazy when some cars park across our road during busy times and we can’t get out.” Yellow lines have been painted at the base of the hill, but it has just served to transfer the issue up the road.
‘We could do with this road having permits. Everyone around here has been ringing the council about it.’
Resident Sharon Saunders, 45, added: ‘I can’t get out sometimes because of cars in the way. People around here park so stupidly, so I’ve put bins out to stop people parking outside my house, and they’re staying there.
‘I’ve tried to get on to my drive before, but I can’t get in because cars have been parked so close either side so I can’t turn in. I have to reverse and get really close to others to make it in.
‘Everyone still parks on the double yellow lines. There have been some accidents down there.’
One blue-badge holder who lives on the street said that the motorists don’t follow the sign outside her home and park there anyway – meaning she can’t get into or out of her taxi.
Furious Faye Goodman, 74, who has lived in her house for 68 years, said: ‘It’s a huge problem, I had a stroke and have a blue badge sign outside my house so that it’s clear for access and so I can get into taxis, but people still park outside it. People around here park anywhere.
‘I go to the shop sometimes, and if a taxi pulls up opposite, I can’t get across the road. Sometimes it has to stop in the middle of the road and then it holds up traffic, it’s a catch 22.
‘It’s been bad in the past couple of weeks especially. I think it’s bad that people are made to pay to park at Nottingham City Hospital, whether that’s staff or people visiting those that are sick.’
‘We have had to limit or redirect our Blue 40 bus on a number of days already owing to Alderton Road being inaccessible because of how cars are parked,’ said Anthony Carver-Smith, head of marketing at NCT. We are just just starting to experience this problem, and we encourage any effort that would allow our buses to keep serving the Edwards Lane estate.
The existing parking policies, according to a union that represents NHS employees at Nottingham’s hospitals, are just a “cash-grab” on the workforce.
This week, parking fees were reinstated at the Queen’s Medical Center and City Hospital. There will be automatic number plate recognition barriers in place, along with signs informing drivers how many parking places are still available.
A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the City Hospital, said: ‘We apologise to any residents who have been inconvenienced by staff parking on their streets.
‘Staff who do not have a parking permit have access to a range of subsidised travel options including our free Medilink Bus, which serves all our hospital sites, or can use the staff travel to work scheme to get discounts on local public transport.
‘We do not condone any illegal parking and if legal offsite parking is absolutely necessary our expectations of staff is to always be considerate to those living there.’