Derry resident says parking is a '˜nightmare'

One resident said local people living in the area faced a daily battle to park in their own area.

The woman said that on one morning this week alone there had been cars parked with all four wheels on the pavement and others restricting access to communal lane way areas.

“This street is a nightmare”, she claimed. “Everyone in this street pays around £2,000 in rates and yet they don’t have any rights and we don’t have any parking.

“There are even people here going into the paying car park to park their cars and the residents are more likely to get a parking ticket than a student or a teacher.”

Those living in area have long been campaigning for residents’ permits but there is no indication as yet from the authorities that this will happen.

“When they did the petitions we all signed it,” she said. “It’s a nightmare for everybody. They haven’t given parking facilities for anybody at all.”

The woman said she had contacted the PSNI, Derry City & Strabane Council and other organisations over the issue but due to current laws there was nothing that could be done.

The issue of parking in the Lawrence Hill area was raised by residents at a recent meeting.

Another resident, speaking at the meeting, raised the issue of parking and also said that local people have at times been forced to pay to park their cars at the Magee car park in the area.