LONDONERS have hit out over pavement parking amid claims that buses scrape cars and drive off on one residential street several times a week.
Residents of Lewisham, South East London say the state of the roads in their area is making it dangerous for both motorists and residents.
The claims come after footage was shared of one incident on Marvels Lane which saw two buses engaged in a stand-off on the road yesterday.
The video, filmed by a resident from the window of their house shows the narrow residential street – which has been made even narrower with cars parked against and on the pavement on both sides.
The street, which sees dozens of buses drive along it every day, looks to have effectively become a one way.
Amid the sea of pavement parkers, two buses have come head-to-head with each other, with no space to pass safely.
Blocked into a narrow space by cars parked on the pavement either side of the road, one of the bus drivers is forced to reverse their cumbersome vehicle along the narrow street.
The driver begins carefully and slowly manoeuvring their massive vehicle backwards along the road whilst the other bus follows, driving forwards just metres from the reversing vehicle, in a rush to pass and get on with its journey.
The reversing bus comes within inches of parked cars as the skilled driver desperately tries not to scrape any of the poorly parked cars.
Impatient motorists can be seen close behind both buses, eager to speed off along the road.
Eventually the reversing bus comes to a section of road wide enough for the other bus to pass.
The driver is then forced to wait while the other bus and a number of motorists pass them, before noticing a gap and speeding off to continue their delayed journey.
The footage was shared to social media yesterday with the caption: “Take a narrow residential road and allow people to park both sides, then send hundreds of buses a day in each direction.
“This is what you get.
“A couple of times a week a bus will scrape a car and just drive off. When will (Mayor of Lewisham) Brenda Dacres and (councillor) Louise Krupski fix this?”
The footage has received dozens of likes and comments from users on social media quick to chip in with their opinions.
One user said: “I’ve seen comments on Facebook that it’s been like this for as long as they have lived on the street (20 years), but they miss the fact that in that time cars have become supersized and made these already narrow roads even more narrow.”
Another added: “Red line one side of the road, problem solved.”
A third wrote: “It’s no wonder that buses are often behind schedule.”
Another replied: “Just because you live in a property on a street doesn’t mean you have the right to park on the street directly outside it and block flow on it.”
