Driven to despair over parking zone

NO way through . . . legitimately parked cars block the entrance to Mr Reece’s business premises

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A PLANNED roadside exclusion zone designed to protect a business has ended up driving the owner round the bend.

When work was halted half- way through mapping out an access-protected area in Union Street, Oldham, it left the zone looking like a parking bay.

The contractor went away to complete other jobs — leaving motorists to help themselves to what seemed like free parking. That left Leonard Reece, of Leonard Reece Upholsters and Furniture, well and truly blocked in.

And this prevented him and his staff from loading and unloading goods from his roller-shutter door which opens straight out on to the street.

Mr Reece said: “The area where people can park should never have been put there.

“This is a popular place for people to park their cars. And when cars are parked there, I cannot get in and out to collect goods or make deliveries.

“I just have to wait, often a long time, for one of the motorists to move their cars.

“Not being able to make deliveries when I need to is slowing the whole business down.

“I have been on to Oldham Council to ask them to delete this box so I can operate the business normally.

“But so far I have had no response from them on the issue.”

A spokesman for Oldham Council said the council was in the process of mapping out an access-protected zone for that area.

But they were waiting for the contractor to finish the project for the council by putting extra warning signs in against illegal parking.