It's like a game of Russian Roulette every time I use the road

“Every time we use the road, it’s like a game of Russian Roulette.” These are the words chosen by 80-year-old Anne Couzens to describe the parking and road safety issues around her home address. Ms Couzens is one of three elderly campaigners in Southport who are asking Sefton Council to intervene and introduce double yellow lines.

Sefton Council met on Monday (March 10) for it’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee to assess a number of reports – including the details of a petition requesting waiting restrictions at a residential junction in Southport.

The 108-signature petition was presented by three local residents and included a proposal for waiting restrictions in the form of double yellow lines at the junction of Ericson Drive and Linaker Street. The document included a series of photographs highlighting the difficulties faced by local residents – including one where a walker is blocked from accessing the pavement.

Carol Ellis presented the details of the petition to the committee, she said: “I have lived here for 20 years, since houses were built. In 2007 I was involved in a car accident and driving out of the close because I couldn’t see the oncoming car, as there were many obstruction vehicles to my right.

“Several other residents also had car accidents [… people] are now parking their cars on the pavement in the access to Ericsson drive, which causes a very serious hazard.

Adding: “A lot of our residents rely on delivery of medications and food, etc. And these deliveries are not always made for some poor access. On many occasions, emergency or delivery vehicles have been unable to access the close. This is both dangerous and very costly.”

These sentiments were shared by Ms Ellis fellow campaigners who also attended the meeting. Ann Couzens has severe mobility problems and is reliant on a walker to get about. Ann faces particular difficulty when trying to get past large vehicles blocking the pavement and is forced into negotiating a high curb, struggle down and pass by on the road.

Ms Couzens said: “Every time we use the road, it’s like a game of Russian Roulette. It’s very frightening. There’s no visibility when trying to exit the road with on coming traffic and with the cars parked on the other side accessing our entry risk us banging into them.

“Disabled people as well as the prams cannot walk on the only pavement we have due to the cars parked half on the pavement and road.

“It’s not just crossing the road it’s the fear exiting turning right into traffic that we can not see is so frightening as on a daily basis you have to take a leap of faith that you won’t get your car banged.”

Elena Luke, 68, is the third petitioner, she added: “We are are simply scared every time we drive in and out of Ericson Drive, scared to be hit by a moving vehicle, and scared to hit another car, or a person, or a cyclist.”

The council report presented to the committee outlined its reasons against the petitioner’s proposals, stating that any yellow lines at the junction would remove already limited residential on street parking spaces in Linaker Street and directly impact individuals that have not participated in this petition.

Highways Safety team leader, John Toker was sympathetic to the petitioners case but recommended the committee do not uphold the petition request, he said: “If we had funding [we would be] able to address every concern that we receive.” “Adding: “We can’t do that.

“We have had a 70% reduction in our staffing levels in my team, and we’ve had over a 75% reduction in the budget that we receive. So it’s really, really difficult for us to try and help everyone when we can’t […] and we have to prioritize the funding that we receive.”

No decision was reached on the petitioners’ proposal and the committee referred the case back to the cabinet member for further consideration.