ILLEGALLY parked cars in Boscombe caused havoc for an open top bus whose driver was forced to exit a junction in the wrong lane after two minutes of failed attempts.
The drivers of two cars parked on double yellow lines at the junction between The Marina and Sea Road in Boscombe on Tuesday, July 19, have been described as “arrogant and selfish” after a Yellow Buses vehicle struggled to navigate around them to exit the junction.
A video provided to the Echo by nearby resident Mo Hill shows the open top Yellow Buses vehicle come to a halt when approaching the junction before making a failed attempt to pass through and turn left.
Two cars parked on double yellow lines behind designated disabled spaces meant the bus was unable to pass through without hitting a pedestrian refuge island.
A pedestrian was seen talking to the bus driver as traffic formed behind him, before ultimately being forced to enter the right turn lane to turn left down Sea Road towards the beach.
According to Yellow Buses, the driver reported the issue to control who then put in a diversion to avoid the road.
Following disruption caused to bus services over the weekend due to illegal parking, Yellow Buses managing director said the latest incident “beggars belief” and reiterated calls for harsher penalties.
He told the Echo: “I utterly condemn such arrogant and selfish parking by individuals that quite frankly have no regard for other road users, their safety, and those of us trying to move around the conurbation.
“This is another example of visiting motorists who don’t care about anyone but themselves, parking fines are not an issue to them as they treat that as a day’s parking fee. Meanwhile, as the video shows, our driver has to navigate around the obstruction by going onto the wrong side of the road, putting himself and other road users at risk.
“It simply beggars belief that people are so selfish, I question how they would feel if the bus was a fire engine trying to get to a rescue situation and delayed.
He added: “It is all about BCP having the right enforcement measures in place as well as deterrents. As stated [previously], both bus companies operate in partnership with BCP Council and we get good service from officers, but greater resource needs to be deployed to address these issues.”
According to resident Mo Hill, one of the cars was given a parking fine soon after. However, Mo also said at least two tickets given on the road were left littered on the ground.
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