Troublesome car sellers cause havoc for residents by blocking up Foleshill roads

Residents told CoventryLive they have to park streets away from their own houses to find a space



Car sellers are blighting roads in Coventry by dumping their cars for sale, CoventryLive has heard. Foleshill residents have said that roads across the ward are being spoiled by unregistered cars, left abandoned until they are sold.

Residents have said sellers are parking cars in front of houses across Foleshill and leaving them to acquire parking tickets until they are sold. They say the knock on effect means they cannot park their cars close to their homes, with some saying they have been left to park a few roads away.

Not only does this make life difficult, they told us, but it also raises questions over the safety of locals, with one female resident saying she doesn't feel safe walking back to her house after being forced to park her car some streets away.

One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "There are tickets being put on cars, you see seven leave and seven arrive. They've got a loophole with how they're doing it. The council aren't doing anything - you don't sleep."

Foleshill remains a hotspot for roadside car sellers, but previous areas affected have been Wyken and Stoke. We visited just a few roads, but parking issues have been ongoing for some time across the ward.

Shazia, a carer, says this has left her feeling unsafe at night. "Police are doing nothing, that's the sad thing about it" Shazia said. When CoventryLive visited Churchill Avenue and its surrounding roads on April 5, there were some cars visible that had parking tickets on, or were left damaged.

West Midlands Police have told CoventryLive the issue comes under the remit of Coventry City Council and Trading Standards. Across the border in Nuneaton and Bedworth, a ban on roadside car sellers went live at the start of April.

Members of Nuneaton and Bedworth council's cabinet rubber-stamped what is officially known as a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) prohibiting vehicles being exposed for sale on ‘A’ and ‘B’ category roads, as well as some 'C' and 'D' roads across the two towns. The ban is now live, meaning those caught face a maximum fine of £1,000 if they are caught breaching the PSPO.

We asked Coventry City Council if they plan to bring a similar ban into effect in Coventry. They said the Nuneaton and Bedworth public space protection order is on certain roads and not city wide, and this is not something they would do.

A spokesperson for Coventry City Council said: “The Council uses the street trading legislation that prohibits businesses selling vehicles from the roadside. In Foleshill, along with other areas of the city, many people selling vehicles are private individuals that are not listed as businesses. However, we always look to obtain evidence of illegal activity so advise local residents to keep logs of the number of vehicles their neighbours are selling and will issue fines and prosecute illegal traders where we have the evidence to do so."

Where is the evidence of this? Why hasn't Coventrylive got pictures of the alleged cars up for sale?

This is a nothing story about people who want to park outside their own front door but for various reasons (overpopulation, no off-street parking, multiple car households...?) can't!