Bentley staff 'pavement parking and blocking drives' after firm axes 948 spaces
A growing number of Bentley workers are parking inconsiderately on residential streets, according to neighbours of the firm’s Crewe factory. Locals have complained of employees at the Pyms Lane factory blocking driveways, parking on grass verges, and not leaving enough space on pavements or on roads for emergency vehicles and local buses.
It comes after Bentley did away with 948 staff parking spaces to build its new paint shop, offices and logistics centre, according to planning documents. Maureen Harris, 53, says the number of workers using the residential streets along Sunnybank Road to the south of the huge facility to park cars and vans has grown exponentially since work started on the new paint shop in May.
She said: “They’re parking on pavements, blocking the access to people’s properties, and it’s getting quite bad. They’re not leaving space for ambulances or fire engines or anything.”
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Bentley said during the planning process that new parking provision was to be added to the west of the site. Ms Harris says these spaces are further away from the factory than the lost parking spaces, and says this discrepancy has led to employees choosing to park on the streets near to the facility.
She added that several residents have ‘confronted’ drivers using the streets for parking, and that the issues have been reported to Bentley several times with no resolution. She said: “People have taken to leaving notes on cars, asking drivers to please use the Bentley car parks, and they’ve just been torn off. It makes people not want to confront them.”
Ms Harris, who has lived in the area for two decades, said: “We’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. No one is really listening to us.”
She explained that there are occasions when not enough space is left for parents with buggies or elderly people to get past parked cars on the pavements. She said: “There are a lot elderly people living around here relying on the council bus service. It will get to the point where the bus won’t be able to get down here.
A spokesperson for Bentley said: “We continually remind all of our colleagues and contractors of their responsibilities to consider the community in which we work. There are sufficient company parking facilities which are used by the vast majority of our colleagues and there is no reason not to use them.
“We monitor the situation closely and take active steps to tackle the few individuals that park on the local streets or behave irresponsibly. This includes removing non-car park access points to colleagues where applicable.
“We value our strong links with the residents and the local community and want to reassure them all that we continue to do everything we can to make sure they are not inconvenienced by our operations. This will include a further communication asking all colleagues to be more respectful of our neighbours and to represent Bentley Motors in a positive way to the community.”