DROGHEDA RESIDENTS TRAPPED IN OWN HOMES
Not even street cleaning machine makes it up Windmill Road - and the HSE don’t help!
RESIDENTS of a street adjacent to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital are prisoners in their own home - and the pay parking debacle has done nothing to help their cause.
The Windmill Road is one of the most congested streets in the town but also one of the most vital as it’s a direct route for ambulances for the hospital.
The fact that people can now park for free there is only adding to their hardship, but highlights the fact that something must be done - pay parking or not. Under pressure locals addressed the public meeting on pay parking in the Barbican last week and said the HSE are not helping.
Meanwhile, Sunday’s Gate man Michael Corbally has run into problems with people parking in a disabled bay outside his home.
The markings have become so worn, motorists are pulling in to park, unaware they are committing an offence.
The family have tried to outline their concerns to drivers, but sometimes to no avail.
RESIDENTS of a street adjacent to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital are prisoners in their own homes - and the pay parking debacle has done nothing to help their cause.
The Windmill Road is one of the most congested streets in the town but also one of the most vital as it’s a direct route for ambulances for the hospital.
The fact that people can now park for free there is only adding to their hardship, but highlights the fact that something must be done.
Under pressure locals addressed the public meeting on pay parking in the Barbican last week.
They outlined a horror story of all day and night parking on the street with some residents forced to drive ‘around the block’ a number of times to find a parking space, bad enough when there was pay parking, but even worse now. ‘ The HSE do nothing for us’, they raged. The street cleaning machine is unable to get up the street as cars are always parked and the level of cigarette butts is enormous.
Bins can’t be taken out because of the vehicles and the situation is 24-7 ‘and getting worse’, they added.
A story of how the oil lorry has to deliver was also told, more akin to a military operation than a simple procedure.
‘When someone wants oil, they have to go to other people and ask them too because it’s easier to do a lot at the same time. The lorry has nowhere to park and has to just pull up’, one resident explained.
They said that the staff of the hospital have taken over the street and ‘ the HSE have done nothing to alleviate the problem.’
The high cost of parking in the hospital car park was cited as a major issue but also the fact that there’s illegal parking on double yellow lines.
Ambulances have issues coming up the road and residents fear if a fire engine was needed it may not get past in certain areas.
‘ The thing is, Irish Water closed the street for two months and the hospital staff and visitors found somewhere else to park. We paid for a permit and we have nowhere to park.’
They also said the traffic warden visits the street four or five times a day.