Plans for crackdown on Waitrose parking in Wiltshire

Residents of Riding School Yard, a small private road next to the busy Waitrose store on Marlborough High Street, say they have been facing constant problems with “inconsiderate and illegal” parking.

Even though there are currently double yellow lines at the entrance to the yard, they say drivers regularly ignore these restrictions, including shoppers hoping to park near Waitrose or the surrounding shops.

This has led to residents being unable to enter or exit the yard in their cars.

A highways improvement request was submitted to Marlborough Town Council calling for changes to prevent this issue and has been supported by councillors.

At a meeting on Monday, March 9, town councillors discussed potentially lobbying police about enforcing illegal parking as well as investigating whether road markings can be improved to make parking restrictions clearer.

(Image: Marlborough Town Council)

The local who submitted the request has called for the installation of a similar pavement and bollards to those currently in place at the entrance to Angel Yard.

She hopes this will “smarten up the area and help to delineate parking spaces, reducing stressful confrontations and enabling residents to fluidly go about their business on a daily basis.”

She said: “The double yellow lines in place should be enough, however sadly they are not.

“Numerous vehicles all conveniently forget the length of their cars or fail to understand that illegal parking does not apply to them, or are happy to chance it and get a ticket for the convenience of being able to secure a parking position right outside their favourite shop.

“Requesting such a person to move is met with torrents of abuse and vitriol. This happens on a regular basis and is distressing for the residents of the yard.”

The request said the current arrangement had created an “awkward situation” which has been made worse by people thinking Riding School Yard is an entrance to the busy Waitrose car park.

She added: “Additional vehicles can often be found entering Riding School Yard in the mistaken belief that this is the entrance to Waitrose car park.

“This can cause major problems as the opportunities for turning around are severely restricted and there is no clear signage to delineate that this is a private road.”