Residents say they are ‘fed-up’ of holidaymakers using their village as a ‘free car park’ – to avoid huge charges to drop off at one of Britain’s most expensive airports. Bristol Airport currently charges £6 just to drop off and pick up passengers for a maximum of ten minutes.
As a result many are dumping their cars in the nearby village of Felton to avoid penalties – infuriating locals. Some villages now say they have been forced to take matters into their own hands – after holidaymakers were spotted parking on their driveway and chucking rubbish on the streets.
They have now had to put up signage to block people parking in front of their houses to mitigate the problem. And some even started a litter picking group – where they collect over 20 bags of rubbish every week.
Some cars have also reportedly been damaged – with tyres being slashed and windshields destroyed. Villagers have said they are considering moving out of Felton as the issue is “only getting worse”.
Mike Fuidge, 62, who has been living in Hill View Gardens for 11 years, is one of those residents – and he says that often cars wake him up at 3am. He said: “We put cones out to stop people parking outside the house and then some guys come around and take everybody’s cones.
“A lot of the cars actually have parking permits from where they live so they should know. Someone was popping the tires a few years ago – I don’t know who they are. And then when people come back from holiday they have flat tyres and then people just come and knock on your door saying ‘did you do this to my car’.
“We believe the person who was doing it got caught now so now people realise that they are not going to get their cars damaged anymore so they come back and park here – and it is worst now.”
Mr Fuidge added that bin and recycling collections have been missed in his street due to cars being all over the road. Marie Aldred, 49, who moved to the village three years ago said holidaymakers seem to give “no thought about where they park their cars”.
She said they arrive in the early hours in the morning causing “disturbance” in the street. “It is troublesome,” she said.
“They park outside our house here which makes it really tricky to residents to be able to use the road – because it is a very narrow road and to be able to get onto out drive.”
Seeing altercations on the streets between residents and holidaymakers, Marie said residents are “fed up” of both them and their families not being able to park.
She added: “It has been really difficult. I think the council should either use a permit system to park out here or at least address it. As the airport is getting bigger, there is more people trying to park without paying; it is massive problem for the people.
“I don’t have a problem with the airport. The planes don’t bother me. But the least they can do is provide help to the residents to be able to not have this problem on their doorstep.”
Peter Cornish, 83 – who has been living in the property for 44 years – said that that it has been a “nightmare” as he is unable to park his car in his drive so people don’t park outside his property. He said: “A couple parked their car and during the time they were away somebody had let down their tyres and cut their break lines.
“Luckily the guy found this out before they drove the car otherwise they could have been killed. The girl was weeping and she explained to him that friends had told them to park there.”
Darren Foskett, 50, decided to do something about the problem – by creating ‘no parking’ signs for his street. To avoid the issue, Darren says he would like a residents permit.
He said: “It is hard to see up and down the road. It is hard to get out of this junction – the visibility is rubbish. It is a nightmare. Use the airport facilities.
“Down by the village hall they just chuck their rubbish out of the windows.”
Due to the dirt and litter, Arlene Sharp, 56, alongside other members of the community started Felton Village Litter Picking Group. They collect around 20 bags of rubbish including bottles, cans and empty sandwich packets – but not just drop and go items.
“Sometimes you find human excrement in the lanes. And there is toilet paper on top so you know it is human,” she stated. “I’m absolutely devastated – we know it causes issues to the wildlife
“Somebody parked their car there for two weeks and then they got dropped on their taxi. They then put all the rubbish in the gutter.”
In the two years Dave Walker, 58, has been living in the village, he said that traffic and speeding has got worse. He reckons that speed bumps and resident permits would be a solution for this.
He added: “They look for shortcuts and I think that is the problem.”
A spokesperson from Bristol Airport advised customers to use on-site car parks – which were equipped with CCTV and automatic number plate recognition – for “peace of mind”.
“We will always look to work in partnership with our community to tackle nuisance parking and urge anyone with concerns to get in touch. We also encourage customers to use other ways of travelling to and from Bristol Airport.
“We provide a free one-hour car park for pickups and drop offs, with courtesy bus transfers between the terminal and car park. Alternatively, there are many direct bus and coach services linking the airport with Bristol, the south-west of England, and South Wales.
“Bristol Airport is constructing a new £60m public transport interchange and car park, which will be one of our region’s largest coach/bus interchanges when it is completed next summer,” they added.