RESIDENTS say they are being forced to park far from their homes because a road has become cluttered with the cars of workers and holidaymakers avoiding car park charges.

RESIDENTS say they are being forced to park far from their homes because a road has become cluttered with the cars of workers and holidaymakers avoiding car park charges.

Now people living in all 16 properties at Garibaldi Place, off St Nicholas Road in Great Yarmouth have signed a petition calling on the borough council to incorporate nearby Factory Road in the Zone A Residents' Permit Parking Scheme so they are guaranteed a spot close to their homes.

The situation has been exacerbated because a number of the residents are blue badge holders with disabilities, and families with young children, who cannot walk long distances if they are forced to park in elsewhere because there are no spaces in Factory Road.

The petition was started by Alan Davies, 58, and his wife Evonne, 60, because they are fed up with not being able to find a space in Factory Road. It has unrestricted parking on one side of the road and double yellow lines on the other.

The couple moved into one of the flats when the Suffolk Heritage Housing Association development opened on August 11, but blue badge holder Mr Davies needs to park close by because he suffers osteoarthritis and has had heart attacks.

However, he regularly has to leave his Mondeo on the double yellow lines in Factory Road, where his badge allows him to park for a maximum of three hours, because he cannot find a space on the unrestricted side.

This places extra physical strain on him because he has to get up and move his car every three hours.

Mrs Davies said: “My husband can walk from the front door to the end of Factory Road, but then he has to sit down. As soon as we get into town he has to sit down, but we do not use the car unless we have to because otherwise we would lose our space in Factory Road.

“We are just getting fed up with it, which is why we decided to get the petition up basically.”

Although the housing association made the tenants aware there was no parking with their properties they believed spaces would be available in Factory Road.

Howard James, another tenant and badge holder, said on Friday : “It can be murder sometimes. Fortunately I have been able to find a space there and get in today. A lot of the people who park there are workers and they would rather park there than pay the charges for public car parks.”

Labour leader, borough councillor Mick Castle is representing the tenants and has passed the petition on to Labour county councillor Mike Taylor who will investigate whether residents' parking can be extended to Factory Road.