Status unknown
Misuse of Cycle paths by Motorists
Reported by Amanda Clegg at 18:22, Tue 31 March 2009
Sent to Cardiff Council 2 minutes later. FixMyStreet ref: 51455.
Motorists are basically using the cycle lanes as an unofficial car park, regardless of how long they are going to be parked there. At any given time there are at least 8 cars parked there when I use it and I constantly have to move into the road to avoid them which I find quite hazardous. This is a dangerous enough road to cycle along at the best of time with pedestrians walking out without looking!
At no point during rush hour traffic have I seen traffic wardens or parking tickets on these illegally parked cars. If parking tickets are not issued along this road then this practice will carry on.
Updates
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it is the same situation down the road..lot of cars are parked on the cycle paths and its difficult enough to cycle on this road..! i never see any enforcement either by parking officials. i will raise another thread for this part of cowbridge rd and will upload some photos and send to the council. it would be good to have a common thread about this situation from other citizens/cyclists as well.
Posted anonymously at 18:57, Tue 31 March 2009
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Illegal parking on Cowbridge Road East is a disgrace. I have taken to cycling down the middle of the road to prevent cars from overtaking. There is a closed and disused car park behind Tesco, why not open that?
Posted anonymously at 09:36, Thu 2 April 2009
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A photo taken from Google Maps showing a typical day on Cowbridge Road West.
Posted anonymously at 09:49, Thu 2 April 2009
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Regarding this problem about the parking on the cycle paths here..I was walking down this road this morning and there was a film crew (i think BBC) interviewing local shopkeepers and a police officer on the street.I think they filmed the policeman telling a couple off for parking on the cycle lane! So I am not sure this was as a result of the council via fms?but anyway result I think... well done!
Posted anonymously at 15:55, Tue 26 May 2009
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That's great Caerwyn, looks like the police are aware of the problem. I would love to see a few parking tickets every now and then too!
Posted by Amanda Clegg at 16:14, Wed 27 May 2009
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let's hope so Amanda, a couple of parking tickets issued during the day would curb this practice eventually. I will email my Cllr and drive the message home again to the council, will you keep you posted. thanks
Posted anonymously at 22:13, Wed 27 May 2009
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Hello there. There was a video report about this problem on the BBC Wales website recently.
It's a ludicrous situation, and I asked a traffic warden about it some months ago. He told me that the council had made a mistake when redesigning the street last year and that they didn't now have the authority to enforce tickets. I passed this info to the South Wales Echo, who checked with Cardiff Council, who said it was untrue. Hmm.
I asked a second traffic warden a little later who told me that disabled badge holders are allowed to park in the cycle lane on the double yellows. If you look, a lot of the parked cars do have these badges (it's a feature of Canton).
A few things, though:
1. No matter how disabled you are, you shouldn't be allowed to park in a cycle lane.
2. The council should start ticketing non-disabled drivers parked in the cycle lane - it would soon stop. I see on Walesonline that the council's due to start rapid response traffic warden units - you phone and report the car, they drive over and nab 'em. So maybe we get to help sort it out.
3. Final point - I'm not sure that the Cowbridge Road East cycle lane is much more than tokenism. I really dislike lanes that pass outside parking bays - just asking for car doors to open on you - and ones that stop and start, force you into the gutter and so on. I'm not sure whether this lane is much better than no lane at all, in all honesty.
Cheers
ian
Posted anonymously at 13:59, Wed 24 June 2009
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Thanks for the update on that Ian.
I can't say that I am surprised. This whole stretch of cycle path seems to be an almighty cock-up and has no real worth.
I was so miffed last week, when trying to use the lane after work, found that every inch was taken up with parked cars, that I rang Canton Police station and was redirected to the (non existent?) traffic warden dept. but was forced to leave a message. Still no reply a week on.
It's hit and miss, I managed to cycle up it on Wednesday with no cars on it at all!
Just a quick response to the disabled driver point you made, I, personally, have never seen a disable badge on any of these cars.
I wonder if I should chase up my previous complaint left on the answer machine - start making a nuisance of myself!
Also, a thought on the rapid response unit - I wonder if flyers left under windscreen wipers, stating that their car has been reported might put the wind up the repeat offenders!
I might design one. Watch this space.
Posted by Amanda Clegg at 23:25, Sat 27 June 2009
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Here's the BBC report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 1/ hi/ wales/ 8079354.stm
Seems like a real 'can't be bothered with the paperwork' attitude by the police!
Posted by Amanda Clegg at 23:39, Sat 27 June 2009
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hi, any update on this situation? also , can you let us know the phone number for reporting the cars? I will be calling them very soon!
Posted anonymously at 19:32, Mon 3 August 2009
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Nothing has been done to rectify this problem, traffic wardens seem to be completely absent from Cowbridge Road West. I see police cars parked in cycle lanes quite regularly too, i'm sure this just encourages people.
You could try ringing C2C Cardiff, the council phone line 20872087, or the non emergency police phone number, 101.
We could also start using this website to report offenders, try to identify repeat cycle lane abusers
http://www.mybikelane.com/Posted anonymously at 23:35, Mon 3 August 2009
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hi, thanks for the website, i think i am going to start to use it and take some pics this weekend..! and send the link to my councillor who has replied to me about this issue
Posted anonymously at 21:42, Tue 4 August 2009
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Okay, I've started the ball rolling here...
http://cardiff.mybikelane.com/
Let's see who can report the most cars!
Posted anonymously at 08:02, Sun 9 August 2009
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and more this morning 9/8/2009..!
Posted anonymously at 15:11, Sun 9 August 2009
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any more updates or news by anyone on this issue? I have emailed my councillors, so they should be on the case now. Anyone with new pics of offenders?
Posted anonymously at 23:35, Mon 17 August 2009
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What's the latest on this ? I have emailed the councillor about it-no news yet. I was cycling along there the other day and nearly hit the guy who was coming out of his car parked illegally by the pub..!
Posted anonymously at 21:11, Wed 16 September 2009
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Nothing has been done, i've left the area and moved closer to the Taff so i can use that as my main route, Cowbridge Road East is just lethal.
There is talk of making the street one way to traffic and having half the road dedicated to bikes. Please contact Cllr Delme Bowen, (He's the one in charge of traffic and transportation), http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ content.asp?nav=2872,3250,4978&parent_directory_id=2865&id=1119
Incidently, there is a 'Critical Mass' happening on Saturday December 5th. Meet on the steps of the Museum at 11am. Cyclists reclaiming the streets! If you have any questions post them here and i will do my best to respond.
Sam
Posted anonymously at 21:03, Sun 29 November 2009
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Saw a couple of parking inspectors the other day giving out tickets and reminding people not to park there..so seems the message has got to the council..let's see..
Posted anonymously at 16:06, Sat 12 December 2009
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Parking Inspectors do work when there is a Cardiff City match on, the streets still lethal though, we took our Critical Mass down there on Sat 2nd Jan and held up all the traffic 8)
Posted anonymously at 19:59, Thu 14 January 2010
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appalled at the parking on Cowbridge Rd west this week. Parking on double yellow lines, blocked cycle paths and parking on zig zags. looks like this situation has been going on and known about for at least a year!!!
Posted anonymously at 21:10, Sat 20 March 2010
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It's on the cardiff r
cc radar. Take some photos as evidence of illegal parking and post them here. I will tweet rodney berman, the council leader this week about this. Do the same @rodneybermanPosted anonymously at 01:06, Sun 21 March 2010
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This was taken 16/03/2010
Posted anonymously at 12:43, Sun 21 March 2010
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I think the problem here is that a lot of cars are actually legally allowed to park in the cycle lane on Cowbridge Road East, even on the double yellow lines. Today, and not for the first time, I spoke to a traffic warden about this, and he confirmed that disabled badge holders and vehicles loading can park in the lane. He then added, "In other words, the cycle lane is f**king useless". Which is true - there are so many disabled badge holders in Canton that the lane will never be free, and anybody can say that they are loading. I just ride wide on Cowbridge Road East, and I'd recommend others do the same. It's a useless waste of money of a cycle lane, possibly there to achieve a quota, certainly not planned by a cyclist.
Posted anonymously at 23:10, Tue 23 March 2010
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I just this minute phoned up the traffic warden to complain and was fobbed off with the same excuse. basically they work it every day but they have less staff now and disabled motorists are allowed to park there.
I was seething!!! Either turn it into a designated disabled parking bay or have it as a cycle path ...IT CAN'T BE BOTH!!!!
Posted by Amanda Clegg at 14:22, Wed 24 March 2010
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..and how many of those with disabled parking badges really are disabled...anyway that is another discussuion for another forum...I have tweeted and sent pics of illegally parked cars with licence plates visible to rodney berman at the council and i will harass my local councillors again about this issue. And another thing, has anyone been in bute park recently? the builders have left it in a right old state, but i digress...
Posted anonymously at 01:09, Thu 25 March 2010
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Oh I mentioned the thing about disabled badges when I phoned to complain and said I don't see any badges on these cars, she just stated that I need to look at the tax disc as they don't all display badges...(?) by that time I had given up on getting anywhere with the traffic warden in Canton!
I cycle thru Bute park every day (rightly or wrongly!) and yes it's getting quite a mess. Proper tarmac roads for vehicles. Unfortunately they will need to re turf cos the cyclists are snarling up the grass as they can not use the temporary bark path.
Posted by Amanda Clegg at 07:44, Thu 25 March 2010
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I trust that this information is being passed on to local councillors, they are obviously choosing to ignore the problem, illegally parked cars put our (cyclists) lives in danger! Are the councillors simply waiting for more of us to die before lifting a finger? At least this page serves as a record of warnings when the awful inevitable does occur, shame on our council.
Posted anonymously at 23:50, Sat 17 April 2010
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just to register my agreement with this issue.
Posted anonymously at 14:13, Sat 8 May 2010
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Posted anonymously at 02:38, Sat 5 June 2010
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excellent- i will tweet this guardian link.
Posted anonymously at 21:38, Sat 5 June 2010
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