Man calls for action to tackle ‘dangerous’ parking around a St Albans junction

Roger Distill says the way cars park on a junction in Marshalswick is regularly obscuring sight-lines for drivers turning right.

The junction, where Sherwood Avenue and The Ridgeway meet, is also directly after a sharp bend in the road and anyone travelling at speed around the corner may not expect another car turning blindly out of the junction.

As Sandringham School is only meters up the road, Roger wants something to be done.

The 67-year-old said: “I feel pretty furious because an accident is going to happen. The more I use the junction the more I realise it is dangerous. It is a matter of safety.

“There’s a school up the road, so it’s being used frequently, and anyone coming out of the junction is going to have problems. “

St Albans district council cannot issue tickets for the area because there are no parking restrictions, such as double yellow lines, which are managed by Herts county council (HCC).

A spokesperson from HCC said: “The safety of road users and pedestrians is of paramount importance to HCC and we would always encourage residents to voice any concerns which they might have about their local roads.”

She said there was a proper process to be followed: “Requests for new yellow line restrictions should be made to the relevant local county councillor, who can consider funding them via their Highways Locality Budget.

“Once these requests are received, the council has to follow a robust process, which includes consulting with residents and key stakeholders and investigating whether there is an ongoing parking safety issue, before any solutions are considered.”

Roger also reported the problem to Herts police in October 2017.

They said Roger should contact HCC but “if the man still has concerns and believes the parking is dangerous or causing a significant obstruction he can contact his local PCSO via the non-emergency number 101”.

Roger has lived in Marshalswick for more than 20 years.