RESIDENTS say “selfish tourists” are ruining their beautiful seaside town due to their entitled parking.
Parking in Filey, North Yorkshire, has become a hot issue for many locals who say they struggle to find a parking spot and visitors “have no respect for residents”.
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Tourists though have hit back and claim they fear being “confronted” by angry residents or risk having their cars purposefully scratched.
Teacher Alex Emmott, 27, who lives in Filey told Express.co.uk he is frustrated by having to move is car “every hour” to find a new parking spot during the peak summer season while at home.
He said: “I stayed up until 10pm last night to wait until I could move my car to a space where I wouldn’t have to move it this morning.
“If we want to park on the street outside our house, the only day you can park there all day is Sunday.
“Every other day is an hour, no return within two hours.”
Any resident who can’t find a space then has to move their vehicle every hour and Alex claims that’s all he did on Saturday because he had to keep moving his car.
He added that traffic wardens were “on it” and you could expect to see a lot of parking tickets.
Alex did say there were more spaces during the off-season but that was only from September until March when there are fewer visitors.
Visitors though have taken to a local Facebook group to describe their own experiences with having to deal with locals.
One woman described what happened when she was “confronted” by a “rude” man after she parked opposite his house, while she was with a young child.
She wrote: “If you choose to live that close to country park and the beach, you should expect people to park there”.
Local Jane Marshall, added: “I’m disgusted with people’s behaviour. This poor home owner is obviously fed up with everyone blocking him in and not being able to park in front of his own home.
“What happened to manners and respect? There doesn’t seem to be any. It’s just a case of ‘I’m on holiday and I don’t care’.”
Richard Pearson commented: “Visitors have no respect for local residents.
“They selfishly park on local streets with no thought for where local residents are going to park. They do this to avoid paying parking charges.
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“Currently, there are five cars parked outside my house and across the road.
“These people do not live on my street. Where do they think residents are going to park?”
Another warned visitors to “be careful there’s a resident on a street near there that will scratch your car, especially if he thinks you’re a holidaymaker”.
Resident April Richards suggested more roads in Filey needed to made into “permit zones” as she could “never get parked outside my house in summer”.
Business owners also say parking is a problem because there are limited spaces and if you are lucky enough to get a spot you have to pay a yearly fee for it, which is not always guaranteed.
Owners of the local greengrocer, Kay and Phillip Waddington, say they got a parking spot in the town – out of 10 available – but have to pay £375 a year on top of their business rates.
Kay told the news outlet: “The spot is not always guaranteed either because disabled badge holders get priority.”
She added that the competition for a parking spot comes not just from tourists but also since large buildings in the centre of the town have been converted into flats.
Filey Town councillor Mike Cockerill: “Parking in summer is always a problem for residents.
“I am unaware of any plans that North Yorkshire Council might have to alleviate the situation.”
Responding to the Town Council raising the issue, North Yorkshire County Council said: “North Yorkshire County Council do not currently have funding available to undertake any new residential parking schemes unless an alternative third party funding stream is provided, to assess, consult and undertake the implementation required.
“The most recent parking review and consultation conducted in Area 3 was for Whitby town centre and took almost seven years to finally be implemented.”
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