A furious resident has hit out at ‘selfish’ hospital visitors who he says are turning his street into a car park.
John Mellor, 53, claims thoughtless drivers are consistently parking outside his home on Pine Gardens in Upton, blocking him and his neighbours in their road instead of paying charges to park at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
It’s a problem Mr Mellor has been aware of for years but last week he reached the end of his tether when police had to be called because two cars blocking the street’s exit had made it virtually impossible for other vehicles to access or exit his road.
He told The Chronicle: “Many residents on this estate are being inconvenienced on a daily basis by people parking to use the hospital, and not just visitors and patients, but staff as well.
“We had to call the police eventually to tow a car away and I understand this happened a few weeks ago as well.
“If a delivery van, ambulance or fire engine had needed access they wouldn’t have been able to get through.”
Mr Mellor added: “Every time I walk to the shops the pavements are blocked by cars and I have to walk on the road.
“Visibility pulling out of Pine Gardens in a car is often very dangerous as vision is obscured by so many parked cars on Upton Drive.”
Mr Mellor said, in the past, the council has suggested painting double yellow lines down one side of the street’s entrance, but he felt this would only exacerbate the problem.
“I pointed out this would merely shunt the problem further into the close and existing double yellow lines aren’t being enforced anyway.
“Their next solution was to introduce a permit parking for us but this would cost us £60 a year per car for a permit and an additional cost for a monthly book of visitors’ permits.
“I only have one car and park on the road rarely, so £60 is far too much to pay just so I can park on the road for and hour while I sweep the drive.”
Mr Mellor thinks the problem has got steadily worse in the past 10 years as the hospital has increased parking charges where currently users can park free for the first 30 minutes, pay £3 for five hours, £5 for eight hours and £7 for more than eight hours.
“Very few visitors are going to be there for less than 30 minutes,” he said.
“A large complex like the hospital should be ensuring that it provides adequate and free parking.”
Upton councillor Jill Houlbrook (Con) said: “This has been an ongoing problem for years. It’s a culmination of things – the hospital, Bache station and the shops being close together.
“Cllr Hilarie McNae and I are aware of the issues and residents will be aware of all the work currently under way to look for solutions acceptable to the majority.
“We’ve been working with the hospital to look at various solutions, including expanding the number of parking spaces and have done surveys asking residents what they’d be happy with but the difficulty is, we need more than 50% of residents to agree to one scheme.
“All we can do in the meantime is continue working with residents to find a solution they are all happy with. We are actively trying, and really do understand how frustrating it is for them.”
Mark Brandreth, the hospital’s deputy chief executive, said: “The hospital is a busy site and we do everything we can to both manage the safe flow of traffic at the same time as ensuring suitable parking facilities are available for patients and visitors.
“We work closely with the local police, we try to be a good neighbour and we were genuinely sorry to learn of this particular situation for the residents of Pine Gardens last week.
“We’re taking steps to improve car parking pressures at the Countess site.
“More staff are being encouraged to travel in by bike and public transport, changes to visiting hours which are currently anytime between 11am and 7.30pm have reduced demands on parking previously associated with a mid-afternoon rush at 2pm.
“In addition we’re making physical changes to the layout of existing car parks.
“Our security team will continue to do everything they can to work with the local community to monitor the impact of these changes and support further improvements where possible.”
