Residents of a development near Brunel Way have described feeling “bullied” after parking patrols of their estate up to three times a day have resulted in wardens “handing out fines like confetti”.
Simon, an occupant of Paxton Drive, in Bedminster, told Bristol Live that on September 26, a new parking permit and zone system was introduced by the estate's management company Remus, enforced by Link Parking Ltd. However, he only realised this when he was issued a £60 fine in October (rising to £100 within 14 days) after parking in one of the site's visitor bays.
Although other residents confirm they did receive letters notifying them of the new system, Simon claims that none of the 16 occupants in his housing association block was notified and that their permits, one tenant and one visitor, were not issued to them ahead of its introduction. He said: “The whole thing’s been an absolute shambles; nobody’s got any clue what's going on, no one has any idea what the rules are.”
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Bella, a post-graduate student, says her home in a housing association block owned by Curo, was notified about the new rules but still has yet to receive both their permits. She agrees the rules are unclear and unnecessarily harsh, claiming she was given a ticket on October 14 that noted her car was not parked within the confines of a side bay. Over the next 12 days, she alleges that she attempted to contact Link repeatedly.
Bella said: “I tried to ring the number on the signs they have up on the street, and it just says that that number does not exist. So I went on their website and found another number, and every single time I tried, I was told that Link parking couldn’t take my call. I left two or three messages, but no one ever called me back.
“I wanted them to explain to me over the phone what my ticket was for, but because I couldn’t get in contact with them and I don’t have a spare £40, I felt like I had to pay them before the price went up.”
“I’m struggling for money, not to mention the cost of living at the moment. This ticket caused me a lot of anxiety and upset.”
Bella says her car was in an area where Curo residents are allowed to park and believes she was issued the ticket because one of her tyres was off the curb of the raised bay area. But she insists her car wasn’t causing an obstruction. She said, “The rules given to us are poorly organised, and although they seemed clear at the start, the ticket officer seems to be giving tickets to whoever they feel like and does not consider the financial crisis the country is facing.”
She added, “Considering how many people live here, it's just ridiculous. It’s a very unfair system. In this time when the prices of everything are going up, they’re just taking as much money as they can get.”
Parking has long been an issue for residents on the site. Paxton Drive is a private road flanked by several three to five-story residential blocks just off the A370. Two of the buildings are owned by Curo, a not-for-profit housing association based in Bath, with mixed tenure, including leaseholders, shared ownership and social tenants. The management company responsible for the entire site is Remus.
While some people living on Paxton Drive have designated parking spaces, others use unassigned Housing Association resident bays and general-use visitor bays. According to some residents, the site’s proximity to Ashton Gate stadium means that on match days, it can get overrun by football fans.
A 2021 Bristol council planning committee report for the redevelopment of the Former Railway Depot on Clanage Road Bristol, which would run parallel to Paxton Drive, noted that parking on the estate was “problematic”, comprising “a very over parked area with cars parked on footways forcing pedestrians and cyclists onto the road which is dangerous “.
Initially, the car park was unregulated, but several years ago, Remus handed the car park’s management to New Generation before switching to Link this year. Nicola, who does not have her own parking space and has lived at Paxton Drive for over a decade, said that New Generation issued her over 30 tickets. However, she feels that the recent rule changes have made the situation worse than ever and estimates that for her block of 30 flats, there are only 15 resident spaces and ten visitor spaces.
Nicola said: “I feel like I can’t go out in the evening, I feel like I have to get my car back here by five, or I can’t go anywhere. The other evening I got back a seven o’clock and had nowhere to park. I was literally sat in my car with my daughter for an hour thinking what can I do?
“I can’t just go and park anywhere else because I don't want to walk back through the park in the dark. You just can’t go out in the evenings; I can’t even have my parents over.”
Because of Paxton Drive’s location, sandwiched between A roads, Bedminster Cricket Club and Greyville Smith park, some of the nearest alternative parking options are on residential streets. Simon said he has been worried about his 21-year-old stepdaughter having to walk through or around the park when she returns home from college in the evenings.
Bella said that because she doesn’t get home from working for the NHS until after 7pm each night, she has resorted to getting her mum to save her a space to make sure she has somewhere to park. Bella said,” I do not feel safe as a 21-year-old female to park my car on a nearby street and have to walk in the pitch dark to my home.”
Once Curo became aware of the confusion over new rules in late October, the company says it wrote to its residents to summarise Remus’ proposals and to help clarify how they would be affected. Curo says it then negotiated with Remus to postpone the parking enforcement until November 28, as some flats were yet to receive all their permits and to allow residents time to understand the new rules better.
Curo says this was agreed upon by Remus on November 2, and Curo notified its residents on November 4. Despite this, on November 11, Simon was once again issued a ticket. He said that Link has been “issuing parking charge notices like confetti. Basically, they just don’t care about people; they’re making people’s lives a misery. We can’t even park outside our own homes without the threat of being ticketed. It feels like we’re being bullied.”
Nicola has managed to avoid being fined but said that she regularly sees the warden for Link patrolling in the early hours throughout the period that fines were thought to be suspended, sometimes up to “three times a day.” With the help of Curo, Simon has now managed to get both of his tickets cancelled, but he is anxious about what will happen once the parking amnesty officially ends next week.
In response to our request for comment, Link said: ”We did not make the rules at the development. We were given them to enforce. We are aware that many residents were parking multiple vehicles at the development when they only had one bay. This was causing significant problems for other residents.
“All visitor passes were issued to our client (Remus) several months before enforcement commenced. Curo then chose to have completely different terms of parking for their residents, which resulted in more permits having to be issued.
“Patrols were not suspended until November 28, and if Curo informed their residents this, then they need to rectify their error; certain areas were suspended.
“We are aware of one charge which was incorrectly issued, and when this was brought to our attention, it was immediately cancelled. It is not difficult to contact us, and an appeal can be submitted online by completing a form.
“The residents need to understand that they have the right to park one vehicle but have chosen to have multiple vehicles. This is an issue that they have caused for themselves and blocking other residents' bays or parking in a manner which restricts access across the development for others or the emergency services is not acceptable.
In response to Link’s comments, Curo said: “We had been advised by our residents in [16 of our flats] that they did not receive any visitors permits (from Remus), and we, therefore, requested that they were issued permits and parking enforcement suspended until these had been received.
“Curo did not have any involvement in setting the terms for the new parking restrictions; this was decided by Remus and Link Parking.
“Curo was advised in writing via email from Remus that parking enforcement is suspended until November 28. The suspension was to include all Housing Association spaces and all visitors spaces. Link Parking was also copied into this email.
“As the freeholder of only two blocks on the development, we have no control over parking regulations at Paxton Drive as these are determined by Remus, the managing agent. We have tried to do the best we can for our tenants by making sure they have had enough time to receive the correct permits they are entitled to and to ensure they fully understand the changes to parking.”
We approached Remus for comment, but they did not respond.
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