Residents and motorists were overrun by parked cars on Saturday and Sunday as ten times more people than expected turned up for an event at The Nottingham Emmanuel School.
On Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 September, the Nottingham City Junior Netball tournament took place at The Nottingham Emmanuel School on Gresham Park Road, off Wilford Lane in West Bridgford.
Organisers had estimated around 200 people would need to park to attend the event, but a figure closer to 2,000 actually arrived. The event was a private let by the school and they expected to easily accommodate the suggested 200 vehicles in their car parks.
@westbridgfordwirenews Residents and motorists were overrun by parked cars on Saturday and Sunday as ten times more people than expected turned up for an event at The Nottingham Emmanuel School. On Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 September, the Nottingham City Junior Netball tournament took place at The Nottingham Emmanuel School on Gresham Park Road, off Wilford Lane in West Bridgford. . Organisers had estimated around 200 people would need to park to attend the event, but a figure closer to 2,000 actually arrived. The event was a private let by the school and they expected to easily accommodate the suggested 200 vehicles in their car parks. . More at link in bio . #nottingham #nottinghamshire #notts #westbridgford #ukpolice #fyp #foryoupage #parking #carparking #carpark ♬ original sound – West Bridgford Wire News
However, by 9:00 -10:00 a.m. on both days – drivers started to park on double-yellow lines, on junctions, on traffic islands, on grass verges and in long lines along the pavements. The resulting congestion also prevented lorries from moving on Wilford Lane until other vehicles gave way for them, causing complete chaos for hours. This lasted all weekend according to residents.
Cllr Alan Phillips who represents Compton Acres ward on Rushcliffe Borough Council was contacted by concerned residents as soon as the issue was reported. He contacted Nottinghamshire County Council Highways Department, which manages off-street parking offences ( as opposed to car parks ) to explain the chaos that was affecting the area.
On Sunday afternoon, wardens from NCC arrived and ticketed cars that were parked in contravention of traffic regulations.
It seems that the event organisers had communicated parking rules and advice clearly, but they say this was ignored or not read by attendees.
Sandra Stapleton, Principal at The Nottingham Emmanuel School told The Wire:
“I would like to apologise for the disruption and inconvenience caused to our neighbours and the local community due to an event which was held at our school on Sunday.
“The event was a netball tournament which was organised by Nottingham City Netball Club.
“We had allowed the event to be hosted at our school with an agreed number of attendees which would have been completely manageable.
“However, a much larger number of people, and therefore vehicles, attended the event which led to the resulting parking and traffic problems.
“The event organisers had sent out parking instructions prior to the event but with the number of vehicles arriving these weren’t adhered to.
“As soon as I was made aware of these issues, I came to the school to see what could be done and saw the difficulties for myself.
“I understand the frustration this has caused, and we will be reviewing our event bookings moving forward to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
