Cllr Dave Thompson claims people are getting a 'poor deal'
Royal Mail is continuing to investigate its parking facilities at the Crown Gate delivery office in Runcorn with a councillor claiming people are getting a ‘poor deal’.
In May, it was reported that police were planning a crackdown on motorists parking on the double yellow lines on the road outside the facility.
Despite the issue being highlighted six months ago, John Barlow said that parking for customers at the facility has ‘not been resolved’.
He claimed that police are targeting the area on a ‘daily basis’ and alleged that Royal Mail have told their staff to park in their depot.
Mr Barlow added that he visits the facility on a ‘daily basis’ taking large sacks for shipping and that it is ‘not feasible’ to walk there from Runcorn Shopping Centre.
Cllr Dave Thompson said he will raise concerns about potential enforcement action at the facility with Cheshire Police And Crime Commissioner David Keane at this Friday’s Police And Crime Panel.
He said: “Visitors to the sorting office have absolutely nowhere to park whilst collecting parcels and in the case of disabled visitors to the sorting office there is not even so much as a pavement or drop kerb let alone a designated parking space.
“It seems grossly unfair to target drivers collecting parcels at Crown Gate when in most cases they are not blocking access up the road.
“The Royal Mail need to do more to assist its customers. I understand they have an agreement to park sorting office vans in the TA car park but nothing is in place to help its customers.
“We are all getting a poor deal off the sorting office.”
Cllr Thompson said that figures released to him by Cheshire police for fixed penalty notices over the last five years in Runcorn showed a ‘marked decrease’ for year on year penalties being issued.
He had previously asked for any enforcement action to be suspended until a ‘sensible solution’ was found.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “Royal Mail continually looks to improve its customer experience and we continue to investigate potential improvement opportunities to parking facilities at Runcorn.
“Our priority is to deliver all mail items first time and we offer a number of services to enable this, such as delivery to neighbour, delivery to designated neighbour and delivery on specific days nominated by the customer.”