Drivers urged to park carefully in the Lake District after emergency services struggle to get down roads

• Report by Fiona Marley-Paterson

Cumbria's fire service is asking drivers to park considerately, ahead of the last weekend of the school holidays.

Over the last week bad, and in some cases illegal parking, has prevented crews reaching an emergency. Car parks have been full - and cars have often been parked down both sides of Cumbria's roads.

These cars here are legally parked. But there are scenes like this across Cumbria at the moment where they're illegally parked. Twice in the last week crews couldn't get to an emergency.

Richard Gibson, Station Manager for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service said:

"You know it [a fire engine] needs 10 feet to go through and people aren't allowing that space especially on the minor roads out in our rural areas, where fire appliances need to get to emergency calls and they physically can't get through the gap. So once one person parks irresponsibly, it's like a domino effect and everyone else parks behind that one person."

Over the bank holiday weekend 476 people were fined for bad parking. A large number compared to last year, when there were 32 for the whole of May. 

You can be fined a thousand pounds and get three points on your license for parking dangerously.

These crews say it's only a matter of time before they won't be able to reach a call to save a life.

People are being asked to consider getting the bus from somewhere bigger like Penrith or Kendal.