Cars parked in Newport bus stop spot cause jams
Drivers have been parking in a town's bus stop bay – because there are no signs telling them it is for buses only, a meeting has heard.
As a result Newport's Police Community Support Officer has been unable to ticket anyone blocking the High Street stop.
Now town councillors are to ask Telford & Wrekin Council to alter the length of the bus stop, outside Boots, and mark the remainder of the layby as a loading bay.
Councillor Peter Scott said identifying new parking spaces in the town centre was a priority, but stopping drivers parking at the north side of the Boots bus stop was urgent.
He said: "The important thing is there is no signage saying buses only and that has made it impossible for the town's PCSO to ticket anyone.
"We have now insisted that we have very clear signage so the message to the people of Newport and those visiting the town is that people cannot park in that stretch between the actual bus stop and Stafford Street. That goes for everyone – blue badges, people just dropping something off.
"We need to solve this problem. We are still looking for places elsewhere for new parking.
"There was no signage at that spot so people were just parking there and when they do, the buses – which stop there regularly – just end up parking further out and it blocks the High Street. That is a problem we are trying to solve.
"Anybody that does park on the bus stop will get a ticket."
He said the change would take "weeks not months".
Councillor Scott said the town council was still looking at bringing extra parking spaces to the town.
"We are always looking for ideas, although it is fair to say that since the town council agreed to pay for the PCSO, more free spaces are appearing because we have been able to remove people parking all day in the 40-minute spaces," he added.
Town councillors have been trying to come up with new ways to improve the High Street for drivers ever since a radical plan to introduce herringbone style parking bays was rejected by Telford & Wrekin Council earlier this year.
Councillor Tony Forrester proposed making the Boots bus stop time-limited parking spaces and moving the stop. But the idea was rejected.
