The council is now exploring ways to restrict parking on the street - which is already marked with double yellow lines
Unregistered cars acting as delivery vehicles for Oldham takeaways have been parking on double yellows, evading parking officers and ignoring penalty fines, bosses say. Cabinet member for neighbourhoods Councillor Hannah Roberts told a full council meeting that parking problems on Union Street in the town centre have increased alongside a rise in hot food takeaway and home delivery services.
The discussion came as a question from resident David Barker was read out by the Mayor Elaine Garry, in which he asked what was being done about the parking problems in the town centre which were often affecting the tram line. "As a resident who often travels on the Metrolink through the town centre in the evening, it is an all too frequent occurrence to have a tram brought to a halt on Union Street by a car stopped in the road obstructing the route of the tram," he stated.
"With a high cluster of takeaway units on Union Street and George Street, and limited parking available, drivers using those premises often take to mounting kerbs or stopping in the middle of the road, completely ignoring road markings such as double yellow lines, and parking in an obstructive and often dangerous manner.
In response, Coun Roberts said: "The parking problems on Union Street increased dramatically during the Covid pandemic and has become worse following the growth of hot food and take away home delivery services."Parking enforcement officers do patrol daily in order to see whether there are any illegally parked vehicles.