DRIVERS who obstruct pavements with their cars in Haworth have come under fire.

Bob Leighton, 64, says some motorists in Hebden Road are taking up such a large part of the pavement whenever they park they are making it inaccessible for pedestrians and forcing them on to the road.

Mr Leighton, a retired heavy goods vehicle driver who lives in Hebden Road, said: "It would seem that some residents of Hebden Road park their cars so close to their homes that on rainy days they can step straight into their house without getting wet, which is all well and good providing it's safe.

"Unfortunately it's not safe for pedestrians because they have to walk out into a main trunk road, and it's even more hazardous during the hours of darkness.

"I regularly see a young man pushing a wheelchair out into Hebden Road to avoid these vehicles which take up most if not all of the pavement.

"I've seen a young woman struggling with a baby in a pushchair while holding her little boy's hand and having to walk with the pushchair running over the centre white line.

"I myself have been hit on the elbow with the wing mirror of a passing car.

"Hebden Road is not only a main road with its fair share of speeding motorists, but it's also a route where parents take their children to school and are forced to walk in the road to get them there.

"I appreciate the road is not designed to cope with the amount of vehicles today, and I can understand the owners of the cars don't want their parked cars damaged by passing vehicles.

"But surely it's not right to take up so much of the pavement as to make people walk into a main road? The least they could do is leave enough room to walk by on the pavement then everyone's happy.

"I truly believe it's only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or possibly killed."

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen (Con, Worth Valley) said that while she had not personally received specific complaints about parking in Hebden Road, the issue of vehicles being parked on pavements was a general problem in the area.

"This is especially the case in historic parts of the village where roads weren't built with big cars in mind," she said. "They were built for people on foot and for horses and carts.

"I'd ask people to use a bit of common sense. We all have to live together and have to use the space we've got.

"People need to park sensitively and ask themselves whether they are leaving enough space for someone to get past with a pram or a wheelchair."

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