Residents are angry after a council confiscated traffic cones they were using to reserve parking spaces. The parking saga has been ongoing for months after Ceredigion County Council wrote to residents at Maes yr Afon in Aberystwyth informing them they could go to prison for obstructing motorists with the makeshift bollards they’d clubbed together to purchase online.
In a letter sent to the residents in the autumn, council corporate director for highways Rhodri Llwyd said some residents of Maes yr Afon were placing traffic cones on the highway to reserve parking spaces for their own private vehicles. “We write to remind you these objects may constitute an unnecessary obstruction of the highway,” he wrote.
“If a person without lawful authority or excuse in any way obstructs the free passage along a highway (they are) guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks or a fine, or both.”
In response some residents said they would continue using the traffic cones until the council came up with a way to allow residents to park their cars near to their homes. Residents pointed out many people living on the street near Aberystwyth town centre were disabled and elderly and needed a parking space, but that the parking spaces were being taken up by inconsiderate shoppers who had seen an opportunity to park for free instead of the council-supplied parking spaces across the town which they’d have to pay for.
Residents said they were prepared to pay for the spaces at Maes yr Afon via an annual or monthly permit which is common in other busy towns and cities near shopping areas, but the council rejected that idea, instead advising residents to use the pay-and-display car park opposite their homes if there is no room on the street.
Residents said they were prepared to pay for the spaces at Maes yr Afon via an annual or monthly permit, but the council rejected that idea, instead advising residents to use the pay-and-display car park opposite their homes which you can see in the picture above
(Image: Google Maps)
Residents used the traffic cones to reserve parking spaces after they’d clubbed together to buy them online
(Image: Google Maps)
The letter which residents received from the council last year
(Image: Mair Benjamin)
Cllr Mair Benjamin said the situation was “ridiculous” and said she felt it was wrong residents were being asked to park in a pay-and-display car park instead of the road being made permit holder only. Some residents have continued to put the cones in the road outside their homes and the council has now acted by taking the cones away.
Cllr Benjamin said: “I am so upset that they have taken all these bollards away. They did it when no-one was around. There has been no further correspondence following that letter (threatening a jail term), they have just come along and taken them away. Residents here are furious and are asking the question whether the council has taken the same action with other areas in town where residents put cones out.”
A spokesperson for Ceredigion County Council said: “Ceredigion County Council, acting in its capacity as the highways authority, has removed objects placed on the highway at Maes yr Afon which constituted an unnecessary obstruction of the highway under Section 137 of the Highways Act 1980.
“It has previously been clearly communicated to residents here, by letter, that cones should not be placed on the highway, and that any such objects, following observation, inspection, or complaints would be seized and removed, with the potential for any costs associated with their removal being recovered from those responsible for the obstruction.” For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter