Residents’ fears over football fans cars blocking their streets

Apr 15 2011 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

WORRIED residents last night hit out at selfish football fans who have been parking cars in their street.

There are fears that, with so many cars being left in Tannahill Terrace and the surrounding streets, fire crews and paramedics wouldn’t be able to reach an emergency there.

Families living in the area are becoming increasingly fed up with extra football traffic that has appeared since St Mirren moved to its new stadium in Greenhill Road back in January 2009.

Paisley grandmother Mary Elliot has lodged complaints with the police and Renfrewshire Council but insists that, so far, her pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Mary, 66, said: “I’ve been to the police three times about this but they just told me to get in touch with the council.

“I then went to the council and contacted their roads department. I gave them my name and address but that’s the last I’ve heard of it – and that was months ago.

“The girl who used to live downstairs from me had sparks coming out of her kitchen a while ago and she phoned the fire brigade but they couldn’t get their fire engine through.

“Two firemen ended up having to walk round to the house.

“That incident didn’t turn out to be serious but what if it had been? What if I take a bad asthma attack and have to phone an ambulance?

“The parking around here is terrible every time St Mirren have a home game.”

Mary, who has lived in Tannahill Terrace for 13 years, added: “I support St Mirren – in fact, my whole family does – and I don’t have a problem with the new stadium. There has been no vandalism or fighting among the fans but the parking is a real problem.

“Something needs to be done about it.”

Brian Caldwell, St Mirren’s general manager, has vowed to look into the parking problem, which is affecting a number of streets, including both Tannahill Terrace and Tannahill Road.

He said: “We try to help our neighbours whenever we can and we have 200 signs up on the streets around the stadium when we have a home game, telling people where they can’t park.

“I’ll be taking this up with the police and the council to see if there is anything more that can be done from our side.

“I would also ask St Mirren supporters to try to use the parking areas that we recommend on our website and be courteous to people when they are parking on nearby streets.”

John Divers, who is station commander at Paisley fire station, said there is legislation in place to ensure that fire crews can get to emergency call-outs.

He added: “If a fire crew needs to get somewhere, it’ll get there. If cars are parked illegally, then they may get damaged as a result.”

Chief Inspector Elaine Morrison, of Paisley police, added: “We have recently been made aware of this issue and our traffic department are having a look at it.

“The local community policing team inspectors are also having a look at the streets in order to make sure that emergency vehicles can pass freely.”

A Renfrewshire Council spokeswoman said they planned to put a traffic order in place to ease the problem.

She added: “We are aware of this issue and are discussing the matter with both the police and St Mirren.

“We are in the process of putting in place a further traffic order banning cars from parking down one side of Tannahill Road and this will come into effect from tomorrow.

“This is in addition to the traffic restrictions already in place in the surrounding area.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and work with the club, the police and local residents to deal with any further issues.”