Angry residents reject parking permits move

Residents have been offered a permit scheme to stop engineers at a Black Country mobile phone repair centre parking outside their homes.

Carphone Warehouse staff have flooded streets around their centre in Bilston Road, Wednesbury.

People living in surrounding streets have said they are concerned for the safety of children at nearby Holyhead Primary School. Sandwell Council's neighbourhoods chief, Councillor Mahboob Hussain, said people were allowed to park where they wanted to as long as it was legal.

But he added: "If the residents are not happy and want to have a residents' only parking scheme where they live, and provided enough want it, then we are more than happy to talk to them about setting one up."

But the idea has been rejected by residents who object to having to pay to park outside their own home. Cars are also parking in The Close, a nearby cul-de-sac, and taking residents' spaces, it has been claimed.

Mother-of-three Mary Cavell, aged 37, said: "It costs £20 a year for a permit but I don't think we should have to pay because people are using our street as a car park.

"They need to sort out the situation on the car park. There are spaces that are still empty when people start parking on the street.

"If you are trying to drive out of here you have to edge out into the road before you can see because they are parked right up to the corner."

Carphone Warehouse spokeswoman Mary Oladapo said: "We are sorry for any inconvenience that residents in the nearby areas of our Wednesbury Logistics Centre may have experienced due to a change in shift patterns from Monday June 8.

"We are working to provide alternative facilities for our employees that will help minimise any disruption to the local community and reduce the need for our employees to park in residential areas."