Waitrose parking mayhem (From Stroud News and Journal)

Waitrose parking mayhem

ANGRY householders say staff at Stroud's Waitrose are causing chaos by parking in their street.

Employees have been using Spring Lane in Stroud to park their cars after the supermarket barred them from using the store's customer car park from Thursdays to Sundays.

Residents say the situation has also come about because highway chiefs failed to repaint yellow lines following roadworks.

Builder Lee Priday, 41, who lives in Spring Lane, says it is affecting his business.

"There are so many cars I can't get my deliveries in," he said.

"I have left notes on the windscreens and even been down to Waitrose to get staff to move their cars but nothing gets done."

Residents say an ambulance had difficulty getting into the street recently because of parked cars.

It was on its way to an elderly woman who had suffered a fall.

Householders also say children who use the lane to get to Parliament Street School are forced to walk in the road.

Resident Dennis Sparrow, 65, said: "It is dangerous as well as inconvenient.

"There have nearly been so many accidents because drivers park near the junction and restrict visibility.

"There used to be yellow lines here but about a year ago there were roadworks and the lines near the junction were never replaced."

Waitrose said it encouraged staff to avoid parking in residential areas.

A spokesman for the supermarket giant said: "Waitrose prides itself on being a good neighbour in the community in which it serves and we ask our staff to avoid parking in residential areas surrounding the branch.

"We currently ask them not to park in the customer car park from Thursday to Saturday to ensure we offer our customers every opportunity to access the branch."

Gloucestershire County Council said it was investigating claims that the yellow lines were missing.

In November, the SNJ reported how Waitrose had introduced a controversial £25 penalty charge for customers who park at its London Road store but walk into town after doing their shopping.