‘It has been a nightmare, people are fed up with the parking here and it is having a negative impact on business owners now.’

A Harold Hill business owner has voiced his anger at the poor parking conditions at the Hilldene shops that he believes have had negative impacts for local shop owners.

Simon Ford from Tops Barbers is a well respected business owner and member of the Harold Hill community who is very active in the area and supports local shoppers by offering them free parking. He told the Havering Daily:

“The problem with the parking machines not working here has been going on for at least eight months. Council officials have been blaming the machines breaking down on the cold weather but when ever I phone to complain about this which is very frequently, funnily enough after half an hour the machines start working again.

“I’d like to ask the council why they spent so much of the tax payers money on these machines that clearly do not work.”

Simon is angry at the fact that many shoppers have to walk a fair distance to get a ticket and by the time they return, they have been issued a penalty fine.

“Shoppers who want to go to Sainsbury’s land up having to walk to Hilldene Avenue to get a ticket and by the time they return to their car they have discovered that they have been issued with a parking fine by the ever present and eager parking warden.

“I have spoken to many council officials and explained this ongoing situation and the negative impacts it is having to local shop owners. I have seen shoppers who wanted to go to Iceland’s abandon their shopping here and go to Tesco instead. All this is ruining our local businesses. It has a detrimental impact on shops in Harold Hill.”

Simon now offers free parking to not just his customers but other members of the community through his parking app for those that are struggling to park.

“Not everyone has access to a smart phone. There are many people who don’t have data, this is a deprived area of Havering and things like this should be taken into consideration. Many elderly residents who live here don’t have access to phones that can have parking apps. People just want to buy a ticket and go shopping.

“When the machines are not working on Farnham Road, then I believe parking should be suspended.

“It has been a total nightmare and this needs to be addressed now. It isn’t right that people are issued a penalty charge when they are walking to get a ticket!”