Annoyed residents use makeshift double-yellow lines to shame bad parkers in Bristol

People living in part of Bristol are placing makeshift double-yellow lines across vehicles to highlight poor parking.

People living in Bishopston, St Andrews and Ashley Down have started a campaign to highlight pavement parking in the area.

They have lobbied the council and started posting pictures every time a parent with a buggy, a pensioner on a mobility scooter or a disabled person in a wheelchair has had to go out into the road to pass a car.

Now they are showing where double-yellow lines could be used to stop people parking on the pavements.

The group calls itself BOSA - Bishopston and St Andrew’s Traffic and Parking Group - and said the area is a "daily, unsafe and unpleasant assault course for pedestrians and cyclists".

A spokesperson for the group said: "Parking on the pavement, even with just two wheels, can be dangerous. It obstructs safe sight lines, for crossing the road and may force vulnerable pedestrians to negotiate kerbs where there are no drop kerbs and to walk in the road."

Avon Fire and Rescue Service crews often have to abandon engines and run to fires because vehicles are too wide to get through streets where people have parked on both sides.

New resident parking zones in areas outside of the city centre were frozen in 2016, but BOSA said people have been talking to Bristol City Council ever since "to no avail".

The group said: "So residents have taken to the streets and regulated the parking themselves, providing double-yellow lines on corners where none exist and yellow-lining drivers who are parked illegally."

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said the authority treats "any parking issues, such as safety and access for emergency vehicles, seriously and enforces marked restrictions, such as double yellow lines".

It added: "However, vehicles parked on pavements are outside the limits of the council’s legal powers and require police enforcement. Citizens can inform the council about local parking issues here or by raising it with their local ward members."

Local neighbourhood team police sergeant Sgt Ben Harrison-Roye said the team is "aware of residents’ concerns about illegal parking in the Bishopston and St Andrew’s areas of Bristol".

He added: "Our neighbourhood team will be reaching out to this group to discuss their concerns and see if we can help further.

"Where vehicles are parked dangerously, or are causing a hazard or obstruction, we can take action but we’d encourage residents to report incidents to us when they happen. More details of when police can take action, and how to report incidents, can be found on our website."

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