'We will have to move out' - says mum as parking issues on Chesterfield roads cause safety concerns

They say people who go to the nearby Royal Chesterfield Hospital for appointments or to visit their family members or friends often park at Hady Hill, rather than pay parking charges in the hospital car park.

Abi, who moved to Hady Hill last year with her daughter and husband, said: “We have cars parking on our drive, completely blocking our house. People are parking on yellow lines, or in front of our neighbour’s houses. It’s terrible. If there was an accident and I needed to get to my daughter or my husband, I wouldn’t be able to get out of my drive.

"Recently we have watched a a young lad getting knocked off his motorbike because he had to reverse into light traffic. He was okay but there will be a serious accident here in the future if this continues.

"Neighbours are falling out as well. People can’t park in front of their house so they have to park in front of their neighbours’ house, blocking their drive because there is nowhere else to park.

“We have now grouped with other residents and we are happy to pay for residential parking permits to make sure that only people who live here can park here. If these parking issues don’t get resolved we will have to put our house on the market and move out.”

A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear of the issues residents have been experiencing and would always encourage them to get in touch with us if there are issues which would be covered by our enforcement powers. Our civil enforcement officers (CEOs) carry out regular patrols in the area to ensure people are parking responsibly.

“Our CEOs can issue penalty charge notices to vehicles parked in contravention of waiting restrictions i.e. single or double yellow lines, blocking a pedestrian access or blocking a dropped kerb access to a driveway.

“Residents can email us at [email protected] to advise us of general parking issues in the area so that we can target patrols on the days and at the times when parking is most problematic.

“But anyone whose dropped kerb access to their driveway is completely blocked during weekday office hours, should call us on 01629 538671. If there is a CEO on duty nearby, we can call them to assist.

“We cannot issue a penalty charge notice to a vehicle blocking a dropped kerb access without the resident making a request for us to do so, as the vehicle may belong to a visitor at that address.

“We’re only able to enforce if the dropped kerb access is completely blocked and the vehicle is unable to drive on or off the driveway. If the dropped kerb access is only partially obstructed then this becomes a matter for the police, who may also be able to help outside of our office hours if your dropped kerb access is completely blocked and preventing you from being able to drive your vehicle off your driveway.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire police said that officers have not received complaints about parking on the street recently.