Tensions over parking bubbled over in a Welsh seaside town. In an apparent incident a holidaymaker began “screaming” at a resident unable to exit her driveway.
This then descended into a on-street argument which ended with the visitor tossing away a traffic cone and cursing the resident for her anti-tourism attitudes. “I’m shaking, I’m so bloody angry!” the resident reported on Facebook. “I have asked countless people not to park there and not one person has ever reacted that way, it was totally shocking and really uncalled for.”
North Wales Live reported that the confrontation in Penmaenmawr, Conwy, highlights the peak tourism season conflicts that exist in many coastal communities when they become overrun with holidaymakers. On roads with no parking restrictions visitors are free to park where there like – but locals say the laws of “common decency” should prevail.
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Some residents in Penmaenmawr complain they often have to park some distance from their homes and that things can get “very annoying”. Addresses in Paradise Road and Brynmor Terrace are often affected but those living in Station Road tend to suffer the most.
The road's eastern end lies close to an underpass leading straight to the promenade. The prom offers free parking but for people wanting to access the beach café, playground, and padding pool Station Road East is closer.
This week an on-street row broke out between a Station Road resident and a visitor who parked opposite her driveway. Although technically legal parking there prevents the resident from exiting her driveway on what is a narrow section of the road.
To safeguard access the resident puts cones on the road as old “keep clear” markings have worn away. But this week she found a car full of visitors parked over them.
“So I went out and said: 'Excuse me, you can’t park there as I won’t be able to get my car out, that’s why the cones are there',” she said. “The driver came out screaming at me about shouting – I wasn’t shouting, just asking – then started saying it’s 'cause she was a holidaymaker. Not at all love, I just need to get in and out.
“Seriously, don’t take it out on me if you're having a crap holiday and have a bit of bloody respect for the locals who have to live here and still drive their cars. I don’t give a crap if you’re a holidaymaker or local, I still would have asked you not to park there so I could get in and out of my drive.”
According to the resident the driver threw one cone into her driveway and tossed away the other. It’s yet to be found. “The stupid thing is all she had to do is pull the car up a few feet and save all the bloody drama,” said the woman.
Frustratingly for locals there is plenty of parking in the town. Forty free spaces are available in Station Car Park a short distance away and there’s a large pay-and-display facility in the town centre with room for 82 cars. Both are well-signposted but they are a few minutes further from the beach.
Another resident reported similar problems. “I have real difficulty parking at the front by my house during the summer months,” she said. “I have to park in our overflow car park, which is far from ideal. I just wish people were more considerate.”
Some in the community want parking permits or additional road restrictions. One resident said: “It should be permit only all along here at the front. There are car parks for holidaymakers to use. The amount of times there are cars blocking all along the road by the tunnel as well – if a fire engine needs to come through we are screwed.”
The Station Road resident plans to lobby Conwy Council for action. “It’s so infuriating when you can’t access your house,” she said. “Parking is such an issue all up and down the road when it’s this busy. And it’s getting worse with more people holidaying at home rather than abroad.”
Conwy Council has been approached for a comment. As residents have not raised the issue with Penmaenmawr Town Council the authority said it was not in a position to act.
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