Collections binned in Shrewsbury by badly parked vehicle

Bins in West Street and Burton Street, Castlefields, were left uncollected last Thursday when a Veolia lorry was unable to get past the vehicle.

The collection was rearranged for an alternative day, but local councillors said that it was the latest example of the disruption caused by inconsiderate drivers.

Last month Shropshire Councillor Andrew Bannerman claimed that many areas of Shrewsbury were becoming dangerously "cluttered and crowded" as a result of bad habits picked up by drivers.

And a Facebook page set up to shame bad drivers in the county town has already attracted up to 2,000 "likes", with dozens of photographs submitted showing people routinely flouting parking laws.

Labour group leader Alan Mosley, a councillor for the Castlefields and Ditherington ward, today said such incidents caused "great inconvenience" for residents.

"This incident was a car that had parked and blocked the route of a refuse vehicle and although issues such as this are rare they are inconsiderate and do cause problems," he said.

"The residents know the pinch points of these narrow streets and know how to avoid them."

He added: "Unfortunately much of Castlefields is invaded by people using the railway to park outside residents' homes and this can obviously cause real problems.

"At the last residents' meeting it was decided not to pursue a residents' parking scheme but we are still looking into ways of deterring and asking commuters politely not to park down these nearby residential streets."

He added: "There are similar problems being faced all across Shrewsbury in wards such as Belle Vue and Coton Hill."

On Friday, Shropshire Council revealed that traffic wardens had handed out 67 informal warning notices to motorists for bad parking on two evenings in Shrewsbury town centre.

They have stepped up their patrols and warned that fines may be used after receiving complaints about inconsiderate parking in the evening.