A street in South Manchester is so plagued by parked cars, the bin men can no longer get down the road - and some residents fear emergency vehicles might get stuck too.
Hollyway, a cul-de-sac in Northenden, is home to so many cars, the pavements have become a car park and people use the road for walking.
Despite the majority of the houses on the street having driveways, residents are still being forced to walk into the road as cars block the paths.
Read more: Daft burglar caught hiding in a BIN wearing the coat of the woman he targeted
For Stuart Wild, a resident on Hollyway, it’s been a problem for years which has only worsened.
He explained that the cars park so close to the houses on the pavement to allow other cars to still drive through, however this has made using the pavements impossible.
He said: “If you want to leave the street, you have to walk down the middle of the road. It’s not nice having to walk up the middle of the road.
“Everyone who has a second car, parks on the road. There are nine vehicles to one house, I don’t know why one person needs that many vehicles.
“There’s a couple of older people on the street and they have to walk into the road. We take our puppies out, we’ve got to walk in the road because you physically cannot walk up any of the pavements.
“One neighbour uses a mobility scooter, she couldn’t go anywhere.”
Meanwhile, Stuart is also worried about what would happen should an ambulance or fire engine need to drive down the road.
He explained: “Six years since my partner’s lived here now and with the green bins, they’ll just completely refuse to come down the street, you wouldn’t even get an ambulance down.
“There’s some days, no chance an ambulance could get down or, touch wood, if there’s a fire, you’d be knackered.”
Currently, bin lorries are forced to stop at the top of the street due to the alarming number of cars which make the street too narrow for the bin collections.
Stuart added: “The bin men had to stop, they can't get down.
"We have to ring them to come out and do a collection, you know, when some of the cars have gone.
“You can see where they stopped and wandered down, but they were nice that time, normally, if they can’t get down, they won’t bother.
“If they see they can’t get down, they’ll just go and leave the bins.”
A spokesperson for the waste management service Biffa, who work alongside Manchester council to collect bins, commented: “We urge residents to please keep access to Hollyway clear, otherwise it limits our ability to collect their bins.
"We always try our best to complete the collection, however, in instances where we are unable to get through, we arrange for another collection as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for Manchester city council said: "The Council works across a wide area to enforce legal parking where possible, and to encourage drivers to park considerately.
"We'd ask residents to contact the Council where pavement parking is taking place so potential solutions can be explored."
To get the latest email updates from the Manchester Evening News, click here.
