Parking

Something that I'm sure effects everyone is on-street parking, where I live the street is slowly being turned into one giant car park, van park and at one house the occasional truck park! The street in question is a fairly twisty turny, as a result on one of the bends you cannot see what's coming the otherway at the best of times, never mind having the carriageway reduced by some eejit who wants to park a lorry. Some folk have driveways that are empty, yet continually park on the road - do they not think that other traffic actually uses the road and work vans everywhere, don't companies supply parking anymore. It's simple - footpaths are for people walking on, not parking, roads are for traffic and whilst the occasional parked car is fine long lines are not. One of the problems of course is the growing number of work vans that are taking places in provided laybys that should be for cars. One house I know of in particular has 3 cars parked in its garden, fine BUT then has 2 white vans parked on the roadway! Rant, rant, rant....

Hi there.

Speaking from a Penicuik point of view, driving through the town is like gowing through a slalom now. The traffic islands, or more specifically when vehicles park close to the islands, this can cause blockages, and then at the tower for example you can have trucks unloading stock to the shops (double parking) and then a bus comes along, and the whole thing can just be quite a mess.

It's also struck me that more recently it's been getting a bit busier and hairier at the bend between Bens and the Penny-coe-press. Parking on both sides leaves only a single-file throughway for traffic, and given there's plenty of heavy goods vehicles passing through that way, It's not great

I can remember years ago when there were hardly any cars in the street where I live. Most families only had one car and there were very few big vans. However, times have changed. I think what annoys me most are the big vans especially if they block the view from the living room window. It may be that some people are parking their cars on the road instead of their driveways to deter others from parking in front of their houses. I suspect that there may be something in the missives that says that Wimpey does not allow commercial vehicles into their housing estates. Does anybody know if this is the case?

I agree with all that's said here. I suspect that it's part of the bigger ecological issues - but it does affect quality of life now, too. It really can be quite stressful trying to navigate from the garage to the main road.

It's a problem in most areas now, sadly. Our street can also be a nightmare, especially as the vast majority of houses don't have driveways, so everyone has to park on the street. It's a main bus route too, and can get pretty congested at times. My next-door neighbours have up to five vehicles parked on the street most days. We are lucky in that we have off-street parking to the rear of our house, but other residents regularly have wing mirrors knocked off their cars, etc.

Maybe parking along the main road will lessen (by day anyway) once the park & ride opens at Straiton, as I am sure that alot of cars are being parked by people heading for buses, whether they are from outwith the town or just can't be bothered with a 4 min walk to the bus stop. As for the parking in residential streets, it's only to be hoped that the fire engine never needs to get through in a hurry! That's assuming it can get out the fire station itself...