Council intervene after cars are ‘dumped’ on Bradford street

Bowland Street, which sits between Manningham Lane and Lumb Lane near the city centre, is claimed to have over 20 vehicles at a time taking up space required by those wanting to park.

Pictures were sent in to the Telegraph & Argus showing old cars with flat tyres suggesting they are inactive and have been left on the street for no valid reason.

Upon visiting the location yesterday morning, we were shocked to discover this was in fact the case.

As the images show, Bowland Street is filled with apparently redundant vehicles making parking and driving down the road extremely tricky.

The Telegraph & Argus was unable to establish if the cars were all abandoned.

However a number of them appear not to have been driven for some time.

The T&A found a silver Volkswagen Polo, a black Audi A3, a silver Toyota Celica and a black Toyota Prius.

The former three all had deflated tyres, while the Prius appears to have been drawn on and had a rear window smashed through.

A man, who wanted to remain anonymous, insisted the problem of abandoned cars has been a “nightmare” for many months now.

He said: “I counted 21 cars that look like they have been dumped there for months, it’s a nightmare.

“Half the cars have got flat tyres and are just sat there. For a city centre, it doesn’t look good.

“People on Lumb Lane and Manningham Lane want to use that street to park up. People are finding it difficult to park because of this issue.

“On an evening it is not that bad, but on Monday to Saturday between 8-6 something needs to be done.

“The priority needs to be given to people who want to leave their car there to go shopping or for something to eat.”

The man says the council have promised to make six parking spots available on the street, but he still feels more needs to be done.

He added: “If there was an hour or two window, people could still pop in and out of the shops.

“The council have allowed six cars to have a parking bay for an hour, but the signs are still to go up.

“That place is getting abused. We need a parking bay all the way down.”

When the T&A approached the council for a comment, it confirmed an investigation is ongoing by the Highway Enforcement Team to get this problem solved.

And the authority warned that cars which have been abandoned could be towed away.

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “The area is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Highway Enforcement Team. Appropriate legal action is being pursued to remove any nuisance vehicles that are not legally allowed to be kept on the highway.”