Bid to ban street car sale nuisance

INCENSED residents in Weston are petitioning for nuisance salesmen to stop leaving second hand cars for sale outside their homes.People in Baytree View and opposite Cranford Close have been fighting for three years to stop their roads being turned into car sales pitches.Many say they are fed up with being harassed by people coming to their homes asking to buy the cars and not believing they have nothing to do with them.North Somerset councillors Astra Brand and Jenny Gosden have joined the fight and are submitting a petition to North Somerset Council.Cllr Brand said: "The problem has escalated in recent years and people are complaining it is detrimental to the neighbourhood."One resident, Mrs Bidwell, who will be 90 on Sunday, said if an ambulance needs to come it cannot get in the lay-by because it is always full of the cars for sale. "Another resident, Mrs Abraham, has to have a taxi come to the lane out the back as they are not able to park in the front and she is disabled. "What they would like is for signs to be put up in the laybys saying 'residents' only parking'."The petition, along with a photograph of the cars has being handed to the council's executive member for strategic planning and transport, Cllr John Crockford-Hawley. He said: "It is wholly inappropriate for these informal businesses to operate on the public highway. I shall be asking our council's officers to investigate." Council leader Alan Hockridge has passed on the information to chief superintendent Tracy Hayler who has said the police will also be investigating the matter.A North Somerset Council spokesman said: "An area officer is meeting with Cllr Brand to discuss the issue. "The Cleaner Neighbourhoods Act allows the council to take action if there are two or more cars displaying for sale signs within 500m of each other but they have to be owned by the same person."We are trying to identify the owners of the cars in question.