Concerned Bradford residents have called for action to stop their streets becoming gridlocked.

A petition signed by 28 residents of Westcliffe Road, Birklands Road, Castle Road and Hall Royd has been sent to Bradford Council's Highways Department asking for residents-only parking zones to be introduced and pay-and-display charges in nearby Westcliffe car park to be abolished.

The petition, organised by Shipley Green Party activist David Ford, says: "We are extremely concerned about the dangers and inconvenience posed by the amount of on-street parking on our roads and by the level of traffic.

"The Council itself, in a recent traffic survey, has acknowledged there is a problem. The residents want to see some constructive action now."

The petition blames overspill from Asda supermarket, Manor Lane, and drivers dodging parking tariffs for packed residential roads.

Charges at Westcliffe site range from 30p for an hour to £1.50 for more than two hours.

Alan Mackin, a Westcliffe Road resident for 40 years, said: "The roads are always choc-a-block. Most of the time I can't park outside my house and have to leave my car quite a distance away. I have arthritis and it's a bit of a problem walking to my house.

"I think it's a mixture of people going to Asda and Shipley who just don't want to pay for the parking meters. People even park at the top of the road and then catch a bus into Bradford. It's been especially noticeable since they started charging at The Westcliffe Road car park. We should have residents' parking like they have in Saltaire."

Another Westcliffe Road resident, who did not wished to be named, said: "I've had an accident there because you can't see around the cars.''

But Caroline Whitley, Asda's customer services manager, said: "We are not aware of any problems. There is never a point when our car park is totally full so I don't think it is Asda customers parking on the streets."

A Bradford Council Highways spokesman said: "We are aware of local concern about these traffic issues and recently carried out parking in the area as part of a review of Shipley town centre.

"We will use those findings to look into the issues raised in the petition and report back to the appropriate sub-committee in the near future."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.