Fire crews criticise bad parking at county beauty spots
FIREFIGHTERS have hit out at inconsiderately parked motorists after struggling to reach incidents near Staffordshire’s beauty spots.
Crews have released an image of a fire engine trying to navigate its way past cars that have been left parked at The Roaches near Leek.
They are now warning that the way motorists park at beauty spots can make it difficult for them to navigate the large engines through the narrower streets.
Firefighters are now asking families to leave enough room when they are enjoying their lockdown walks.
Ant Ball, Leek watch manager, said: “We always ask people not to park over the hydrants which we require access to, and to avoid parking too close to road junctions as that can stop the tail end of the engine from getting through.
“The issues that we encounter are not just on residential streets. We have also been seeing it in beauty spots like the Roaches, Dovedale and the Manifold Valley, where visitors are parking their cars but not leaving much room for engines such as ours to safely get through. Fortunately at our station, we have never been delayed when getting to an incident due to parking, but if we were to be, then there could be serious consequences.”
The fire service has now been issuing leaflets in areas where bad parking has made it difficult to get past.
Staffordshire deputy chief fire officer Rob Barber said: “Our firefighters must reach incidents as quickly as they can and bad parking is one thing which can potentially slow them up.
“We know more people are now working from home and therefore there are more cars parked up on residential roads.
“We are just asking drivers to consider whether an emergency vehicle can get through after viewing how they have parked.”