{"id":477653,"date":"2025-10-06T07:40:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T07:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/477653\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T07:40:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T07:40:17","slug":"they-know-its-chaos-with-parking-around-here-but-they-have-no-solutions-to-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/477653\/","title":{"rendered":"‘They know it\u2019s chaos with parking around here but they have no solutions to it’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Small businesses in one part of Merseyside have raised concerns about parking enforcement, financial burdens and its negative impact on accessibility for customers\"ClaireClaire Smithwick, owner of Your Flower Company, with a few of her recent parking tickets(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council are not supportive at all, and it\u2019s almost like they want to make your life more difficult”. These are the words of small business owner, Claire Smithwick, as she reflects on the “parking chaos” outside her beautifully adorned shop-front on St Johns Road.<\/p>\n

Your Flower Company (YFC) is a well known and popular florist in Waterloo<\/a>, serving the local community and its surrounding areas. It\u2019s distinctive floral displays and friendly service has made it a much-loved and popular fixture on the high street for many years.<\/p>\n

Like several other businesses and local residents on St Johns Road, Claire has made formal complaints about parking and says the enforcement team do not listen when legitimate concerns are raised.<\/p>\n

The Liverpool ECHO<\/a> understands the parking problems in this part of Waterloo are “notorious”. We spoke to several people who said it\u2019s “very difficult” to find a parking spot off St Johns Road and virtually “impossible” to find a space on it, during business hours.<\/p>\n

\"ClaireClaire Smithwick, owner of Your Flower Company, loading her van on St John’s Rd in Waterloo(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Claire said her branded van has been issued with 15 parking fines so far this year, despite raising legitimate concerns with Sefton<\/a> Council about parking access. She added: \u201cThey know it\u2019s chaos with parking around here but they have no solutions to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe traffic wardens don\u2019t give you the heads up and they\u2019re not willing to discuss the issues we have here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am loading and unloading the van all day and need to have my van close to the shop because there\u2019s a lot to carry. But there\u2019s double yellow lines directly outside, and then during the day, it\u2019s almost impossible to find a space. I\u2019m forced to park outside my shop and then get fined so, I\u2019m stuck between a rock and hard place.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving her latest parking fine on October 1, Claire took to YFC\u2019s Facebook<\/a> page to share her frustration, writing: \u201cSefton Council you really should be ashamed that this is allowed to happen to small businesses. This isn\u2019t the only one I\u2019ve had, it happens on a regular basis whether I\u2019m in a parking bay or not.<\/p>\n

\"ClaireClaire Smithwick, owner of Your Flower Company on St Johns Rd in Waterloo(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite numerous emails to you regarding tickets, enquiries to see if small businesses can have a permit \u2013 nothing changes. I am so close to closing my doors today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post was commented on by several local residents and YFC customers sharing Claire\u2019s frustration and offering support. Alice Connolly wrote: \u201cHow are you expected to get anything done if you can\u2019t park outside?\u201d<\/p>\n

James Harrison said: \u201cWe got three [fines] in 24 hours [on the] same road! Can\u2019t even park outside your own business, how do they expect a customer to park?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lesley Messham added: \u201cHappened to me all the time when I had a business on that road in 2001. Complained, requested permits, even permits for my customers who also experienced [parking] tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ECHO<\/a> understands the ward councillor, Green Party representative Neil Doolin is looking into the issues raised by Claire and other small businesses in the area. One potential issue has already been identified and that\u2019s the elongated double yellow lines stretching 20-30 metres around the bend from the A565 and past Claire\u2019s shop and the adjacent alleyway.<\/p>\n

\"VehiclesVehicles parking on double yellow lines outside Claire’s business(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Claire added: \u201cI\u2019ve got four tickets right here and in all honesty, I can\u2019t afford to pay them and they\u2019re going to go up and up. Then there\u2019s the court and it\u2019s just \u2026 what am I supposed to do? I can\u2019t just magic money out of the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s stressful enough owning a business, and when it isn\u2019t doing well, or when you\u2019re not busy, it can be really hard. When you\u2019re trying to feed your kids, feed your family, pay all your bills and then to add the pressure of these fines and the council not supporting you, it mentally affects you.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like you\u2019re hounded by the traffic wardens and there\u2019s no end in sight to it because we\u2019re not presented with any solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we need permits? Should there be a different approach to enforcement? Loading bays? Maybe all of those, but things can\u2019t go on like this because its just chaos and its affecting everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ECHO<\/a> contacted Sefton Council several times for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Small businesses in one part of Merseyside have raised concerns about parking enforcement, financial burdens and its negative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,51,487,393,4884,179,456,12460,1263,16,15,14145],"class_list":{"0":"post-477653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cost-of-living","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-real-lives","15":"tag-sefton-council","16":"tag-transport","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-waterloo"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115326092985973489","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}