EMERGENCY vehicles struggle to get to houses in one Axbridge estate because of the number of cars parked there

EMERGENCY vehicles struggle to get to houses in one Axbridge estate because of the number of cars parked there.Several people have had to be carried on stretchers along Knightstone Close to waiting ambulances which could not make it past cars parked on both sides of the road.A meeting is being called between residents, the police and Knightstone Housing Association, which manages the estate, to try and resolve the problem.Town councillor Dennis Bratt is a resident in one of 15 homes he says are caught by a bottleneck of parked cars further up the road.He says the situation was made worse when Knightstone changed a section of the parking layout.Cllr Bratt said: "The estate has 53 houses and 150-200 cars. Some houses have four or five cars."With all the parking problems people are having around the country it's really showing up on our estate."There have been times in the past when people have been dragged up the road on a stretcher to be put into the ambulance. "It's not good when they are ill and there is a fire risk as well if fire engines can't get through."Knightstone has come along and changed the parking layout outside the garages and displaced eight cars which have got to find somewhere else. They go further up the estate, making the problem worse there."Knightstone's director of property services Mike Day said: "We've actually had some very positive comments from tenants saying the work was done well and they are pleased with it."We have regularised the parking there after people said they did not have enough room to drive out of the garages."We are liaising with the police to see if we can resolve some problems with huge numbers of cars parked on the road there and are planning a meeting with the residents to discuss positive ways of how to improve the situation.