Shoppers hit out at car park chaos
TRAFFIC chaos took hold for hours around the West Orchards shopping centre in Coventry city centre yesterday.
Long queues, irate drivers, blaring horns and general confusion have been part of the nightmare in and around the mall’s car park and its exit onto Corporation Street.
Motorists have had to wait for up to an hour and a half just to exit the multi-storey facility and crawl 500 metres along the access road back onto the junction.
Many complained about a lack of warning, and signage, indicating that temporary traffic lights are hampering progress at the Corporation Street junction by the Belgrade.
One woman said she had moved just three inches in an hour - and then given up, reparked and gone back inside the shopping centre.
The snarl-ups lasted for at least four hours, with West Orchards and street team works in high-vis jackets trying to direct traffic as best they could. It is not the first time queues have formed at the shopping centre.
Shoppers have faced misery trying to get out already several times this month.
It has also happened in previous years, with many including the centre’s management - blaming the zebra crossings just outside the car park for the delays.
But Coventry City Council has previously said it does not believe the pedestrian crossings are the issue. It however did say it would be looking to see if there was anything it could do to “improve traffic flow”.
Shahmeen Akhtar said out of her window: “It’s taken over an hour and a half to get out. It’s ridiculous, I’ve missed a very important meeting. What are you supposed to tell someone, that you’ve been stuck in a car park for an hour and a half? There was no warning whatsoever to let people know what’s going on.”
Another shopper said: “It’s absolute chaos on every floor. We’re parked on the fourth floor, we’ve just parked back up again and we’re wondering around town now. I’m with my son who had to call his wife to get their son out of school, we don’t think we’ll be out by 3pm.
“One girl was having to get a taxi to Bedworth to get her child out of nursery, she was beside herself. No wonder people don’t shop in Coventry. I think they were turning people away who were trying to get in. It’s a nightmare.”
Alison Dwyer was sat outside the car park waiting for her son to reach the exit, and had been there half an hour when she spoke.
She said: “It’s crazy. My son’s still on level four. It’s frustrating, we only came from Nuneaton to go to a few shops. It’s chaos up there my son says.”