RESIDENTS around Droitwich Railway Station have called for something to be done to clamp down on the huge number of cars parking in residential streets in the area.

Jenna Danks, who lives in Stalls Farm Road near the station said she is concerned by the way motorists navigate around the parked cars.

She said: “It’s getting very silly, we’ve nearly had a few cars hit other cars now parking on the opposite side of the road. They don’t stop, they fly down this road.

There’s going to be a big accident.”

Another resident of Bourne Close off Ombersley Street West, said: “Most of our residents are elderly and if there was ever an emergency, there would be nowhere for the emergency services to park. A lot of the time, when we have returned from our weekly trip to the local supermarket, the taxis have to park in the middle of the road as there is nowhere to park due to the congestion.”

One reason for the number of cars might be a shortage of parking at the railway station, or a reluctance to pay for parking. There are currently two station car parks, with one operated by London Midlands which offers 45 free spaces, and a second managed by APCOA which has 40 spaces charged at £4.20 for 24 hours.

Ms Danks added: “It’s station overflow. They’re here from 7am until eight or nine at night. I’ve even had a couple of them who have stopped over somewhere and left the car there all weekend.

“My neighbour can’t park outside his house at night, he’s just passed his driving test he had to park his car all the way up by Manning Road. I can’t even get my own car on my drive, because they’re parking over the drop of my curb, and it definitely doesn’t feel safe when I’m trying to reverse out. I prefer to walk because I can’t get in and out.”

Christine Baxter, parking services manager at Wychavon District Council, responded to concerns, saying: “We are aware that there is an on-going problem with parking around the station. This is why we have been in the area over 140 times in the last three months patrolling at various times of the day and issuing Penalty Charge Notices where we can.”

Sergeant Sarah Kent from the Droitwich Safer Neighbourhood Team addressed the issue in a recent meeting of Droitwich Town Council.

She said: “There are a lot of cars parking in that road, and there’s various issues, with people crossing over double yellow lines to park on the grass. We’re not able to prosecute any more, but the council may be able to enforce with fixed penalty tickets.

“For parking over dropped curbs, the police can deal with obstruction. You can’t be obstructed from going off the highway onto your drive, but you can be if you want to get off your drive, so if residents find that they’re being blocked on their drive, or if they’re put off a journey, we’ll come out to that.”

If any residents around the station are blocked from getting off their drive, they should contact West Mercia Police on the non-emergency number 101.