A pensioner has forked out £600 for a new driveway after being blocked from his home by parents parking on double yellow lines while picking their children up from school.
Alan Richardson, 82, has told how he has been forced to spend hundreds of pounds to allow him to be able to leave his home through the day as it sits near Cadishead Primary School in Manchester.
Richardson says that many of his neighbours have also been forced to convert their gardens into driveways due to the 'crazy' school run making access more and more difficult. He told Manchester Evening News: “There are times when I just can’t get off my drive, there are that many cars around.
"It’s prompted me to have a drive made at the front of my house, costing £600.”
Valerie Greenhalgh, who lives opposite the school, added: “It’s crazy how some people park. They’re parking on yellow lines now, so I don’t see that painting more is going to make much difference, if the restrictions are not going to be enforced."
Sue Sinnott, 69, said: “It’s ridiculous. There are people coming here and parking from 2.15pm onwards just so they can get a convenient space near the school. Some of them live within easy walking distance of here. It's madness.
“You can see the line of cars stretching all the way down Moss Side road, some of them parking across people’s driveways.” But she added the extra restrictions would also cause a headache for local residents, some of whom have two or three cars per household and already struggle for spaces to park.
And she added: “But it’s no good painting yellow lines around the junctions and then failing to enforce the regulations."
Additional measures such as double yellow lines and cameras have now been set up to deter "selfish and inconsiderate" motorists.
Salford City Council’s lead member for planning and sustainable development Coun Mike McCusker, said: "We are introducing the cameras on a trial basis and we are currently patrolling two schools where there is a problem. But it takes a while for it [the enforcement action] to have an impact.
"The hope is that imposing parking fines on motorists who break the restrictions will change their behaviour and that word spreads around to other parents.
"This is very much a trial. But I get regular reports of accidents in my role and there is a graph that shows that over a rolling 10-year period there has been a reduction of serious injuries and deaths, so it's going in the right direction.
"Parking badly near schools can have tragic consequences, even with speeds restricted to 20mph."
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